Nightmare on Elm Street
by JamieTyler
Summary: Nothing to do with the movies... Fenton and Laura come home to a living nightmare, someone's broken into their home and tortured their boys...OMG, AN UPDATE!
1. Homecoming pt 1

**Nightmare on Elm Street**

(I know, I know...the title. But hey, i couldn't help it, I had to use it. Nothing else worked, so just read it alright? I promis you'll like it.)

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_Homecoming_

Joe opened the front door to his family's home on Elm Street his head on cloud nine. The seventeen year old had just returned from a date with his girlfriend Vanessa. The two had spent the day at the Bermont Bay Carnival with Frank and Callie. The plan had been for the four of them to watch the fire works together that evening but Frank had gotten a migraine and Callie had driven him home around five that evening. So Joe and Vanessa had gotten to spend the rest of the evening together. It was now eleven and Joe was just getting in.

As expected the house was dark and quite. The boy's parents were spending the evening with friends and the boys didn't expect them back until the next morning. Their aunt was away, visiting her parents for the week, and Frank was probably in a drugged sleep. Joe was expecting to be the only moving thing in the house at the moment and have to 'fend for himself' for a snack. But he wasn't expecting the knife that greeted him.

"Say nothing, move forward," came the whispered the knife man.

Joe did as he was told, closing the door behind him. Adrenalin pumped through his body, pushing all the tiredness out of his body and helping his eyes to adjust to the dark. The house had been ransacked; it looked like a bomb had gone off. There were papers and broken glass everywhere. Pictures had been torn off the wall and carelessly tossed around. Books had been torn apart and scattered through out the entrance way and rooms. All the Hardy's things had been tossed around, moved, or broken. Nothing was untouched.

There was a light, a very dim light, coming from the kitchen and the sounds of someone rummaging. Joe knew tat his mother kept emergency money and their passports in an old coffee tin, and that there was almost six hundred dollars there. But the money wasn't what was bothering Joe. There was no sign of Frank.

If someone had broken in Frank would have surely known, he was a light sleeper even when drugged. He had to have heard them. Did he not know what was going on and come down to see only to be taken prisoner? Had he thought they were Joe, come down to greet his brother and been injured by them? Or was he upstairs lying low until they left? Had he been able to get away, to call the cops? Or was he dead?

Joe hoped he had gotten away, but something told him that it was a vain hope.

As Joe moved forward the Knife man had moved in behind him, pressing the blade against his throat and taking control of Joe's right arm. "Kitchen," he ordered with another harsh whisper. Again Joe did as he was told and moved carefully to the kitchen.


	2. Chapter 2

There were two more rogues in the kitchen, a man and a girl. The Girl was no more then five foot and curvy. She wore well fitting black cloths and a red bandanna covered her face from the nose down. Her long brown hair was pulled back and out of the way, showing her pale skin and gray eyes. She was rummaging around the cabinets and drawers, and barely glanced at the newcomers.

The other man was built a lot like Frank. He too wore well fitting black cloths as well as a ski mask and fitted leather gloves. There was an air about him that left no doubt who was in charge. He was The Leader. He was so calm and at ease standing over Frank, running a hand through him hair that Joe instantly felt a strong dislike of the man.

The Hardy's have an island in their kitchen; Laura had wanted extra counter space. It was about four foot wide and five foot long and had four posts on the corners that held up the pot rack. Frank had been tied semi-spread-eagle to the side of the island closest to the door. His hands were stretched painfully above his head, and he had been forced to his knees. He was blind folded and gagged and stripped from the waist up. His gray sweat pants were torn on one side revealing part of his hip and upper thigh.

Blood dripped down from a multitude of wounds on his neck torso and arms so that a small pool of blood was forming in front of him. His chest was covered in welts and cuts, some of them pretty deep while his stomach and exposed hip and thigh were covered in small burns. There were bite marks on his neck arms and writs, most of them still bleeding sluggishly, and his right hand looked broken. Bruises ran into bruises so you couldn't tell where one began and the other ended, and Joe felt that at least one of Frank's ribs were broken. To top it all off, Frank was having problems breathing.

It took every ounce of Joe's self control not to tar free from knife man and go running over to Frank. Even now The Knife Man had tightened his grip on Joe's arm, feeling Joe's muscles tensing.

The Leader was running his hand through Frank's hair and paid no attention to Joe or The Knife Man. His hand made gentle, soothing motions as if to try and comfort Frank and then with out warning, The Leader grabbed a handful of Frank's head and viscously yanked Frank's head to the side, exposing his neck. Frank groaned as his head was forced to one side and he tried weakly to pull away. Another sharp tug put an end to his protests and he stilled himself, waiting for the next torment.

Joe felt his temper climbing. No one had the right to hurt Frank; no one had the right to torture him. He could feel the anger in him boiling his blood. He watched The Leader crouch down so that his face was even with Frank's, and he felt his body tensing. He had no idea what this man was going to do, but just by looking at Frank he knew it wasn't going to be good.

The Leader scanned the exposed skin on Frank's neck until he found a spot clear of marks. A wicked smile crossed his face and he leaned into Frank. At first Joe thought he was kissing Frank, and he felt sick. Then he realized that the man was licking the blood away from Frank's neck and it was a fight to keep the bile down. Joe took a step forward, wanting desperately to help Frank. But The Knife Man pressed the blade into his neck harder, until Joe felt a sharp prick and then the blood on his neck. Joe froze, breathing hard, his anger starting to take hold of him. All he wanted to do was beat the shit out of The Leader, but for now there was nothing he could do but watch.

As The Leader licked Frank's neck, Frank tensed and his breathing grew desperate, it was one of the few times Joe ever saw his brother fight for control of his emotions. The Leader's smile widened as he watched Frank. His reaction was everything that he wanted, and he was enjoying every minuet of it.

The Leader leaned into Frank again, wrapping his free arm around Frank's waist so that there was no chance of him pulling away. With one last lick, The Leader bite into Frank's neck and began to suck.

A cross between a whimper and a scream escaped from behind Frank's gag. He tried feebly to pull away, to fight off the attack but it was in futile. The Leader only bite harder and then tore away from Frank, leaving a gaping wound in its place.

Now Frank was screaming in earnest and desperately fighting to get free. The Leader merely slammed him against the island and used his body to pin him there. He forced Frank's head farther to the side and secured his mouth over the wound.

He drank the oozing blood for a few seconds and when he grew bored with that, he stuck his tongue inside and began to probe the wound. He lapped up the blood like it was candy and the longer he drank, the more aggressive he got. He pushed his body against Frank, slamming him into the island wall.

To Joe the whole thing looked like rape, and in a way it was. After all rape is defined as the unwilling penetration of a person's body, and Frank was definitely not willingly allowing this man to drink his blood or stick his tongue into his neck. In fact, Joe could here the whimpers coming from his brother and he was seeing red.

He lunged at the man only to be shoved to the floor and pinned there by The Knife Man. The Leader, hearing the struggle behind him, pulled away from Frank and looked over his shoulder. He smiled devilishly when he saw Joe struggling to free himself from under the weight of The Knife Man. He made one more dramatic lick across Frank's neck, making sure to gather blood around his mouth, before standing and facing Joe.

The Knife Man pulled Joe to his knees and held him in a head lock, his knife on the floor forgotten. The Leader approached Joe with a smirk on his face; blood was dripping from his mouth. He stopped just a foot away from Joe and looked down on his victim, vicious pleasure in his eyes. Joe locked on to his eyes unafraid; he was too pissed to be scared and way buoyed thinking clearly.

"You sick bastard…" Joe growled and was answered by a backhanded slap across his mouth. Joe's head was snapped to the side from the blow and he could taste blood in his mouth. Another backhand snapped his head to his other side and a third made him see stars. The fourth and final backhand sent him to the floor again ad his arms were instantly pinned painfully behind his back.

The Leader snapped his fingers and The Girl, who had stopped rummaging when she heard Joe speak, came over. She handed a pair of hand cuffs to The Knife Man before heading over to Frank. While The Knife Man struggled to cuff Joe, The Girl removed Frank's blindfold and headed back to the others.

Frank winced as the dim light hit his eyes and started to blink rapidly hopping to bring focused back to his frazzled mind. At fist his mind refused to register what was going on around him. His hearing was muffled, his sense of touch totally over ridden by pain, and his vision completely unfocused. But some how one sound managed to penetrate the fuzz overtaking his mind.

It wasn't so much the sound, but the thought that entered his mind that registered with him. 'That sounded like Joe,' Frank thought, 'I think that was Joe.' It was that simple, matter of fact thought that made Frank look around. That made him pull out of his daze back into his hellish full consciousness.

His eyes widened in horror at the sight before him. Joe was being cuffed and gagged on the floor only feet away from him. Forgetting about his own situation Frank tried to get to Joe. As soon as he moved sharp, fiery pains busted through his body and left him breathless. He slumped against the island pitifully, moaning from as much grief as the pain. He was helpless to help Joe. There was nothing he could do except watch them torture Joe.


	3. Chapter 3

Just a quick note,

There's a whole mental conversation between Joe and Frank somewhere in here and i kind of got lazzy so it looks like they're talking but that's silly cause they're gagged...so they're not talking, they're using esp or something. I don't know, just read and tell me what you think.

Enjoy.

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Joe struggled with his captors, and hadn't noticed Frank watching him. All his attention was on the three people trying to handcuff him. His was pinned on his stomach to the floor with both hands behind him, held in place by a guy he sure out weighed him by three hundred punds, and even though he knew it was hopeless he had to try. It was at times like these that Joe wished he'd taken up wrestling instead of football, because he'd sure as hell seen several moves during Biff's matches that would get him out of this guy's hold.

'If I get out of this, Biff is giving me wrestling lessons. That goes for Frank too…' Joe resolved himself as he jerked his arms again, making it impossible to cuff him.

His captors were growing annoyed with Joe's resistance. At first it had been amusing, now it was just frustrating, like trying to get a bracelet on one handed. Finally deciding enough was enough the knife man who was pinning Joe griped a handful of the youth's hair and slammed his head against the floor. The blow wasn't enough to seriously hurt Joe, though he was going to have one hell of a head ach, but it was enough to stun him. He went limp, allowing the other's to handcuff him and gag him.

The gag was the first thing that brought Joe's mind back to his brother. When the fabric was shoved into his mouth Joe tasted the metallic taste of blood and the salty taste of tears and sweat. At first his mind just absorbed these facts not really comprehending, at least not until he was pulled to his feet and caught a quick glimpse of his brother.

Frank's eyes were wide with terror, and though slightly glossy, they showed that Frank was aware of everything around him. Removing the blindfold had reviled unseen injuries to Frank's face, a bloody wound just above his left eye brow, a clean break to the bridge of his nose, slight swelling around his cheek bone and eye socket. For a second the brother's locked eyes and Joe's mind comprehended what he tasted. He had Frank's gag in his mouth, but more then that, the gag was soaked in his brother's blood and he could taste it.

Joe fought hard to keep the bile down, but he couldn't keep from gagging slightly. He felt himself flush and the world started spinning slightly…and he wasn't exactly sure why. How could something so little cause him to feel so sick? Blood had never bothered him, whenever he had a paper cut or something small like that he'd just lick it or wipe it on his jeans. It was just blood, what was so disgusting about blood? Why should it make him sick? 'Because it's Frank's…Blood means pain…someone's hurt…and this is Frank's blood….'

The thought had barely entered Joe's mind before it was pushed aside. Instead of focusing on Frank and all the possible injuries that his brother could be suffering from, his mind decided to focus on what was happening to him. He was shoved roughly into one of the kitchen chairs and tore his gaze from Frank. The Leader was approaching, his minions already having retreated to the side.

Like he had done with Frank, The Leader ran his hand through Joe's hair, stroking it, oh so comforting. His other hand traced Joe's jaw line, and there was a pleased look on his face. Joe turned his head away, shutting his eyes so he wouldn't have to see the deranged man. This angered The Leader and he backhanded Joe. Once. Twice. Three times, each blow snapping Joe's head to the side.

Once Joe was sure another blow wasn't coming his way, he glared up at The Leader, challenging him. He was determined to take anything these psychos' gave him as long as they stayed away from Frank.

The Leader watched Joe with amusement as he lit a cigar, meeting Joe glare with his own devilish one. He took a few puffs of the cigar and then grabbed a handful of Joe's hair, yanking his head back. He pressed the butt against Joe's throat and held it there for several seconds.

Joe screamed into the gag and arched his back as his brain registered the pain. He tried desperately to get away from The Leader, but it didn't work. Several minuets later his neck and throat were covered with small burns.

The Leader stepped back to examine his work. A satisfied grin spread across his face as h watched Joe try to control the pain. He dropped the bud to the floor and put it out and began to circle Joe. He ran his hand very lightly over Joe's shoulders as he did, as if he was trying to make up his mind as to what to do next.

Joe's body was tensing, and he could feel panic rearing its' ugly head. His breathing was becoming erratic, his neck was throbbing mercilessly, and he had no idea what was going to happen. It was like he was standing on the edge of a cliff and leaning too far to the wrong side.

It was always that way with Joe. His adrenalin would kick in, and all thought, all ability to plan out his actions was suppressed. It wasn't that he was stupid by any definition, it was just that once he was in motion he was in motion. It was pretty hard to stop him, especially if his adrenalin was powered by anger and fear. Very few people could stop Joe when he saw red, and when some one was able to not only stop him but hurt him afterwards, Joe's adrenalin high mind couldn't comprehend and he went into panic mood. The panic would over power Joe and he'd end up hurting himself worse then anyone else could.

Frank had seen it happened many times while on other cases and he had dubbed it the Caged Joe Syndrome. There was only one cure for the Caged Joe Syndrome, a kind of one two punch. First Frank would tell him to grow up then he would reassure him as best he could. It almost always worked, but then again Frank had never tried it when he was bound and helpless while Joe was being tortured.

Frank called Joe's name as best he could and it took several tries before he caught Joe's attention. The sound that Joe heard though was a moan, but it was enough to attract his attention. He looked over at his brother, his panic being stifled slightly by worry.

Frank's brown eyes help that serious glint to them, the one that he always held when Joe needed to focus. It was like he was saying, "this is not time to lose it." That one look was more then enough to pull him back. His breathing eased and the panic relented. It was still there, but it was under Joe's control. Once Frank saw the clarity in Joe's eyes, his own softened slightly and he nodded his head, basically asking if he was alright. Joe gave a shaky nod, he was alive after all.

Frank examined his brother quickly, taking in the ragged breathing, the pale skin tone and beads of sweat on his brow as well as the nauseating burns on his neck and cocked an eye brow, 'are you sure?' Joe glared at his brother, understanding perfectly well and did his own examination of Frank. Frank just nodded, 'point taken.'

Again the elder Hardy locked eyes with his younger brother, making sure that they held conviction in them. He willed his brother to hear his thoughts, 'We're going to get out of this. We're going to be fine. We're going to get out of this.'

At first Joe seemed confused, then unsure, but finally he seemed to understand what his brother was trying to tell him and he nodded.

By now The Leader had gone full circle and had returned to face Joe. He smiled at him sinisterly. He licked his teeth, which had a slight tint of red, for Joe to see, causing Joe to gag again. For the second time The Leader gripped Joe's hair and yanked, only this time pulling him forward.

Joe grunted in surprise and struggled a bit, but it was useless. The Leader had moved to his side and placed the weight of his upper body on top of Joe's back. He looked over at Frank who had stiffened and pulled himself up, and he smiled. With out thought he tore into Joe's flesh, creating a gaping wound on the back of his neck.

Joe's mind didn't hesitate, as soon as it felt the pain it told Joe to scream, and scream Joe did. He screamed as The Leader began to suck on the wound. He screamed as The Leader began to probe the wound with his tongue. He screamed until the leader through him to the floor knocking the wind out of him. Then he couldn't scream any more, all he could do was gasp desperately trying to pull air into his starving lungs.

Frank had been screaming too, only his was full of rage and hopelessness. He would have given anything to take Joe's pain, anything to keep the man from biting Joe. He couldn't describe what it was like to have that man's tongue in his neck. It wasn't just the pain, but the feeling of something inside him, something invading his body and enjoying the pain and discomfort that it was putting its victim through. He would have given anything for Joe to have spared that.

The man looked down at Joe with a look of disgust on his face before making his way over to the island. He nodded his head towards his two minions who quickly stepped up. The Knife Man reached Joe first and pulled the barley conscious youth to his feet. With a firm hold on Joe's shirt collar, he began to beat Joe, sending blows to his stomach and face. After countless blows he tossed Joe to the floor, continuing the assault with kicks and stomps to Joe's sides and legs.

Joe tried in vain to protect himself. He curled into a ball, hoping to make himself as small a target as possible but all it did was exposed his back. He tried rolling away from the attack, but he was too weak and into much pain to do so. Out of options and to hurt to care Joe just lay there.

The Girl stopped the assault with a touch. The Knife Man looked at her and nodded, he gave Joe one last kick before he stepped aside and let her work. The Girl maneuvered Joe from his side onto his back and pulled a knife from her waist band. She sat on Joe's legs, and with two quick motions she sliced off Joe's shirt. She ran her fingers lightly over Joe's chest and began to trace out a pattern.

Joe watched her in a sort of detached pre-black out kind of way. The only thing that really registered with him as he studied her was the look on her face. 'She has the most empty eyes I've ever seen…' was his last thought before the knife tore into his flesh.


	4. Chapter 4

Frank had been watching with growing horror. He had tried to get away from his bonds, to get to Joe even though he new it was useless. Even though with every move he made his body screamed out in agony. His only thought was to help Joe and when it was determined that there was no way to free himself, he felt helplessness over whelm him. Frank was so focused on Joe and the growing helplessness inside him that he failed to notice that The Leader had come to stand next to him until he felt the hand in his hair.

Frank jerked and pulled his head away. He looked up at the man with such hatred and rage that he swore that he flinched. The Leader stopped his stroking and crouched down. He took hold of Frank's chin and tipped his head back slightly. He gently removed the gag from Frank's mouth and before Frank had a chance to comprehend kissed him.

It was a full kiss, deep and aggressive. Frank could feel The Leader's tongue probing his mouth but that was Frank's secondary concern. His primary was the blood that was being forced into his mouth. He had no doubt that it was Joe's, and he could feel it, thick and warm trailing down his throat. The coppery taste over powered him and seemed to supper glue itself to his tongue.

Frank felt himself start to gag; the bile was already in his throat. He tore away from The Leader and started to vomit. The Leader moved out of the way just in time. He kneeled by Frank's side, again stroking his hair.

As soon as Frank was sure there was nothing left for him to throw up, he sank back against the island, exhausted. He was almost a sleep when a muffled scream broke though his haze. He tore his eyes open and was horrified to see that The Girl had stamped her knife into Joe's thigh and was now twisting it.

With out looking away Frank spoke to The Leader, "please…" he said hoarsely, for his throat was raw. "I'll do anything…please just leave him alone…" Frank begged The Leader.

Again The Leader took hold of Frank's chin and turned him so that they were face to face. "Please…" Frank said again, "Don't hurt him any more…."

The Leader studied Frank, his eyes going serious. He gave Frank a quick nod and replaced the gag in Frank's mouth before standing up and turning his back on him.

Frank sank back ad shut his eyes. He had done all that he could to help Joe and he knew that it wasn't enough. They wouldn't stop…they would kill both of them and there was nothing he could do. There was no way he could save Joe. He had tried, and it wasn't good enough.

He could feel his hopelessness over powering and for a moment he started to think that they were going to die. Frank could feel the hot tears on his cheek, tears for his brother who was suffering. Tears for his mother who would die when she came home to find her son's dead, tortured to death, his father who would spend every last waking minuet of his life to hunt down the ones responsible. His aunt who, though always firm with the boys, treated them like her own sons. And friends who were so close to family, so very important to him and would never truly know it. Tears were for the people in his life who meant the most to him and who would suffer the most. The one's who after to night would never be the same. And for a moment he let that grief and hopelessness over power him. But only for a moment.

He was pulled back to reality with a tug on his arm. The two minions were at his sides and pulling him to his feet. Frank ignored them and looked franticly over to his brother. Joe had been turned to his side and was staring at Frank with semi-focused eyes.

Frank felt a small spike of relief rush through him, and for the first time hope. Maybe they weren't going to kill Joe? Maybe they weren't going to kill him. Maybe this was all some horrible nightmare and everything would be fine in the morning.

Such a fleeting hope.

Frank's hands were cut free and he was pulled into a head lock by the Knife Man. Not that he could have struggled much anyway; he could barely stand for crying out loud. The Leader made a gesture to The Girl and nodded his head. She quickly left the kitchen and he heard the front door open and close.

The Leader pulled out another cigar and lit it, studying Frank menacingly. He pulled off one of his gloves and ran his bare hand through the drying blood on Frank's chest. Frank, who had grown shy of his touch, pulled away as best he could. The man frowned and looked over at Joe, a silent reminder of Frank's plea. Frank was quick to catch on. The next time the Leader touched him, he did his best not to flinch.

The Leader ran his hand over Frank's chest again, as if he was searching for imperfections. He apparently wasn't pleased, because he had The Knife Man forced Frank to bed over the island, and pin his arms above his head. It didn't take much effort.

While there was no doubt that Frank had been badly beaten, most of the damage was done to his front, his back was untouched. Which was exactly what The Leader wanted to find. He ran his fingers lightly over Frank's skin, a smile on his face.

The Girl returned a few moments latter, carrying a vile of something that Frank couldn't make out. She handed it obediently to The Leader then took charge of Frank's right arm, allowing the Knife Man to move off to Frank's left. The Leader examined the vile and was pleased with what he saw. He moved over to Joe and pulled the youth off the floor and forced him into the chair so he could better see his brother.

Joe, who was starting to get some of his senses back, looked around nervously. His hart was racing and adrenaline had dulled the pain in his battered body. He didn't know what was going on, what they were going to do. He knew that it involved Frank, and the vile in the leader's hand, and he knew it was bad. They were planning something bad, something very bad, and Frank was in the center of it.

The Leader smiled as he opened the vile and held in front of Joe's face. Joe got a small whiff of the substance inside and his eyes grew wide with horror. Inside the vile was lighter fluid, and Joe now had an idea of what they were going to do.

If he had been stronger Joe would have leapt up and tackled The Leader, but as it were, he was helpless. Helpless to watch The Leader walk back over to Frank. Helpless to watch him remove Frank's gag and give his brother another kiss. Helpless to watch as he poured the lighter fluid on Frank's back. And so, so, so very helpless to watch as he pulled out his lighter…he hadn't even known he'd closed his eyes until he heard the screaming.


	5. Chapter 5

Frank was in a daze. He had no idea what was happening. The Leader had walked over to Joe and sat him back in the chair. This should mean something, but it didn't. His mind was starting to take on that detached view it often did when Frank was in danger, and thus nothing seemed to be real.

He watched the man deal with his brother, not hurt him but he did something because Joe tired to stand. He Saw The Leader kind of laugh quietly or snicker at Joe before heading back his way. The Girl moved off to the side, letting him closer to Frank. Frank's gag was removed and again the leader kissed him, but Frank was expecting it this time and he bit The Leader's tongue before it could get in his mouth. The Leader pulled back, surprised at first, then he just sneered at Frank. He moved behind him and Frank felt his hands on his back again.

The leader pulled on Franks sweat pants slightly, so that the waistband hit him at the hips instead of his waist. Then he poured the liquid in the vile on to Frank's back. It was a slimy kind of cold feeling, the liquid on Frank's back. It wasn't all over, just down his spine and across his lower back. He didn't know why exactly, but it made him nervous. Frank heard The Leader pull something from his pocket, and an instant after that he felt the first tingling of heat.

For a moment Frank's mind stopped working, his body froze. There was no thought, no feeling, and no realization. Then all at once it hit him. The heat, the pain, his skin melting, the knowledge…. He did the only thing he could do, he screamed.

Joe opened his eyes just in time to see the flash of fire light his brother's back and to say he was horrified was an understatement. His brother was screaming and fighting like a wild animal to get free. Joe found himself screaming too. Tears weld up in his eyes as he watched the fire on Frank's back burn hot then die away.

What took only seconds, seemed like hours, but once the fluid was burned away the fire stopped and Frank was left with just cooking skin. The Leader who had been watching with silent amusement now opened the Hardy's freezer and pulled out some ice. He walked over to Frank and placed the ice on his back.

The relief was instant and intense. It tore a gasp from Frank, and his world went black around the edges. His legs started to sag and The Girl and Knife Man just let him fall. Frank landed on his knees, his head resting against the island walls. His breathing was rugged, he was cold, and he had no strength left in his body. The world was hazy and going black, unconsciousness slowly pushing away all thought, all feeling.

The Leader sat down next to Frank and gently maneuvered him into his lap. Frank whimpered as pain shot through his body. The Leader cradled him like a child, and softly ran his knuckles down his face. After a minuet, long enough to make sure that Frank had settled, he moved his hand to Frank's throat.

Frank's eyes showed his surprise, but he made no move to resist as his airway was cut off. A few strangled gasps escaped his throat and the pressure was increased until Frank's chest stopped moving. It took two minuets, but finally Frank's brown eyes closed and his body went limp. The Leader gently laid him on his side and stood.

His cold eyes met Joe's hunted blue ones and he gave the blond an artic smile before he and his minions left the house.


	6. Homecoming pt 2

**Homecoming Part Two**

"Oh it's so good to be home!" Laura exclaimed cheerfully as she and Fenton pulled into the driveway early Sunday morning.

"It is always nice to get away, but home is home," Fenton agreed.

"And look, no police cars, no broken doors or windows and the house is still standing…Frank and Joe must have taken the weekend off!" Laura giggled.

"So it seems," Fenton agreed with a smile. His smile turned into a wicked grin as he looked at his wife. "You know the boys were out late last night, they had to be, they had a date."

"Uh-huh," Laura said, catching the gleam in Fenton's eyes.

"And probably Friday night too, which means they haven't slept much this weekend," Fenton continued.

"Yes, I can see that," she agreed.

"And it's early, ten o clock…."

"So?"

"Why don't we go wake them up?"

Laura tried to look stern at her husband and failed. "Oh you're bad, you are real bad….I love it!"

The two laughed as they climbed out of the car and headed for the house. The giggles stopped though as soon as they saw the bloody hand print on the front door. Instantly Fenton went into police mood and pushed Laura behind him. He opened the door and his eyes widened as he took in the scene and he heard Laura gasp.

"Anyone home?" he called stepping into the house, Laura behind him. "Frank! Joe!"

There was a small thud from the kitchen that barely caught Fenton's attention. But as he was in police mood it did, and Laura's too.

"What was that?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

"I don't know, but call the police and an ambulance, I'll cheek out the kitchen." Laura nodded and headed off to the living room where they kept the cordless.

Fenton made his way cautiously over to the kitchen. He had no idea what had happened, who had broken in, if they were still there and more importantly where his boys where and if they were alright. As he approached the kitchen Fenton saw traces of more blood and he was becoming convinced that he wasn't going to like what was in there. He could feel the dread rising in him.

He stopped outside the kitchen and called out again, "Anyone here? Franklin? Joseph?"

Another thud was the only answer and Fenton took a deep breath. He braced himself for what he would find and entered the room. Fenton had spent ten years on the force, seven of those in Homicide, Special Crimes and Special Victims, and ten more years as a private detective and years as a volunteer EMT. He was totally unprepared for what he saw.

The kitchen was splattered in blood and vomit. Fenton's hart skipped a beat as he stared at the sight of the dark red, almost brown substance. It was just coated, Fenton's mind couldn't even comprehend it. And at the center of it all was Joe. It took his mind three seconds to register that fact and once it did it was able to move past the gore shake him out of his shock.

Fenton quickly closed the distance between he and his son and fell to his knees next to him. He managed to stifle a gasp when he got his first look at Joe, but only just. His youngest son, his baby, was battered and broken. His face was discolored, his chest, arms, stomach and legs covered in blood. Fiery red marks dotted his neck. There were tear tracks down his face and his eyes were red. But what hurt Fenton the most was the pain that he saw in his eyes when Joe looked up at him.

"It's alright Joey," Fenton soothed, reverting to Joe's boy hood name. "It's alright, you're safe now." Gently Fenton lifted Joe up, flinching that the moans that came from his son. Fenton kept up his soft mummer's of care as he continued to examine his son. He instantly saw the handcuffs that bond his son as well as the gaping bite wound on Joe's neck. 'Sweet Jesus…' he thought as he saw it. But he quickly diverted his attention to Joe's bonds.

"Joe, I have a key to the cuffs," he said softly, "I'm going to un-luck them, and it may hurt." Joe nodded slightly and waited. Fenton pulled out his keys and in no time he had Joe free. Joe sagged against his father and shuddered as the circulation returned to his arms. Fenton carefully removed the gag from his son's mouth and then wrapped the boy in his arms. He held him for a minuet, just held him and thanked God that he still could.

Joe leaned into his father more relived then words could describe. Finally he was safe, finally someone could come in and take charge and he wouldn't have to worry about a thing…except for one. "Dad…" Joe said hoarsely. "Dad…" he tired again, this time pulling away. Fenton let him reluctantly, and instantly noticed the tears.

"What is it Joe?" Fenton asked, even as he asked the nagging that had been in him for sometime came to front again. He looked at his son and the thought hit him, "Joe, where's Frank?"


	7. Chapter 7

_"What is it Joe?" Fenton asked, even as he asked the nagging that had been in him for sometime came to front again. He looked at his son and the thought hit him, "Joe, where's Frank?" _

Joe couldn't answer him; he couldn't bring himself to voice the horrors of the night. He just looked at his father, his blue eyes wide and over flowing with grief. That did more to unnerve Fenton then any words he could have said. Fenton found himself franticly looking around the kitchen for his eldest son.

He found him. Lying on his side, hidden by the island from the door, was an unmoving Frank. If Fenton had thought Joe was battered and broken, it was nothing compared to Frank. Looking at his eldest, he doubted that he was even alive.

His eyes never leaving Frank, Fenton lowered Joe gently to the ground. As soon as Joe was safely on the floor, Fenton rushed over to Frank, his hart in his throat. For a second all he could do was look at Frank. He took in the battered and swollen face. His marred and bloodied torso, the broken bones, the burns on his hip and thigh, the millions of bit marks, the bruising around his throat, and worst of all the burns on his back. If it wasn't for the brown hair and finding Joe so close, Fenton would never have imagined this battered body in front of him was his son. It didn't even look real to him.

"Frank," Fenton said, barely a whisper. He reached a hand out hesitantly, afraid to touch him.

"They tortured him dad…" Joe whispered. "When I got home they had already started…I couldn't do anything…." Joe couldn't keep the sob out of his voice as he watched his father and brother.

Fenton looked up at Joe briefly, but his eyes were full of understanding and concern. Joe had witnessed what they'd done to Frank, and then had spent several hours just staring at Frank's broken form. That was a hell Fenton could scarcely rap his mind around.

"He strangled him dad…" Joe continued on. "He strangled Frank…."

Fenton now felt his hart rate in crease. Had he come home to find his son dead? As gently as he could he felt for Frank's pulse and there was nothing. But Fenton was never one to give up lightly. "Come on Frank, don't do this to your old man…" he breathed, finding a new place on Frank's neck to check again. He grimaced as his hand came in contact with something slimy and warm…warm! If Frank's blood was still warm…then Fenton felt it, weak but steady, Frank's pulse.

"He's alive," Fenton laughed, "He's alive…" Just as he had done with Joe, Fenton lifted Frank into his arms. He began to gently try and wake his son, praying that Frank wasn't to far gone to be reached. "Frank, wake up son, come on it's time to get up…."

He kept repeating the words softly, with out luck, he didn't even notice as his wife entered.

Laura had done as told; she'd called the police and had been told to expect them in ten minuets. Fenton had said that he was going to look in the kitchen, and so that was where she was going. She didn't want to be alone in the house like this. As soon as she reached the kitchen though, she didn't care about the house.

Her hart stopped when she saw what awaited her, and like Fenton, her mind refused to work properly. Her eyes fell on her youngest and that was the only thing she cared about.

"Joseph!" she called as she rushed over to him. She too took him in her arms and carefully ran a hand down his face, examining him with a mother's eyes. And her hart broke at what she saw. She looked up over to Fenton who was holding on to her eldest and a sob escaped her throat.

Fenton looked up at his wife, tears in his eyes. Frank was limp and lifeless in his arms, he had stopped breathing.

They barely heard the door open or the Police calling out to them. Joe had fallen unconscious in his mother's arms and Fenton was trying to get Frank to breath.

"In here," Laura cried when she finally heard the police calling. Her eyes were glued to her husband and son, "The kitchen hurry! He's not breathing!"

There was a rush of activity as the EMS came and took over. One went to Frank while the other looked over Joe. The two police officers took the Hardy's outside, 'so the EMS guys can work.'

They got Frank breathing and rushed him off, with Joe following. The Hardy's were driven over in a squad car and there was nothing for them to do but wait.

"Black coffee for the gent and Green tea for the lady," Con Riley said as he entered the small private waiting room.

Booth elder Hardys looked up, and Laura even managed a small smile as she took the tea he offered.

"Thank you," she said to the young officer and took a sip.

Fenton took his coffee and gave Con a nod.

Con took a seat across from both of them and leaned forward. He allowed them a moment or two, knowing that they knew full well why he was here and what he was going to say. He wanted them to be as calm as possible, hell he only heard about what happened and he wasn't sure if he was calm enough for this.

"The Chief will be here soon if you want to wait…" Con said softly.

"No, time is what counts now and why waste is? Go ahead," Fenton said, putting his arm around Laura's shoulders.

"Just tell me what happened. Where you were, who you were with, what time you got home."

"We went up to New York, to see some friends we hadn't seen in a while. Frank was in charge…" Laura started, "They called us every night, even last. Frank called around eight…he had a migraine and Callie had driven him home……"

"Callie Shaw, his girl friend. Frank said that Joe was still out but he'd have him call when he got in. When we didn't hear from Joe we figured that Frank had just forgot. That he just fell asleep and never heard Joe come home," Fenton continued.

"We got home about eight this morning, and when we went inside we found the house a mess. I went to call the police while Fen went searching for the boys…" Laura's voice trailed off and she looked off into the distance. Fenton gave her a small squeeze and picked up the story.

"I found them in the kitchen…I found Joe first. He was conscious…his hands were cuffed behind him. The only thing he told me was that when he had come home they were already there, that they had 'already started,' he told me that they tortured Frank…" Fenton's voice too dripped off and he looked down at the floor to get his emotions under control before continuing. "I found Frank…he was unconscious. I turned him over to find his pulse and he stopped breathing…That's when the police got there."

A silence filled the room as Con took down some notes. "They were out for most of the day?" he asked.

"The carnival, they took their girlfriends," Laura said.

"And Frank got sick so he had Callie Shaw, his girlfriend drive him home?" Con went on.

"Yes, that's what he said over the phone," Fenton confirmed.

"What time did you say that was?"

"About eight, maybe seven fifty," Laura said.

"Was Callie still there, did you hear her in the back ground?" Con asked.

Fenton looked over at Laura, "You were the one who talked to him."

Laura nodded and looked up trying to remember. "I think so…I'm not sure. But the kettle was on and I heard it go off and someone took it off. I know Frank was calling on the corded phone, the one in the hall because of the way it sounded. I could hear him clearly, the corded phone crackles."

Con nodded and wrote some more notes. "Any idea when Joe came home?"

"They were going to see the fire works," Fenton said. "That was the plan; he had to have come home after that. But I don't know when that would have been. He was with a girl named Vanessa Bender. I think they may have been with Chet Morton most of the day as well, maybe Biff Hooper, Phil Cohen, maybe they know."

Con was about to ask another question when a knock on the door interrupted.

"Mr. and Mrs. Hardy, I'm Dr. Casey……"


	8. Chapter 8

_Con was about to ask another question when a knock on the door interrupted._

"_Mr. and Mrs. Hardy, I'm Dr. Casey……"_

The occupants of the room all turned their heads to the door to see an elderly lady, one that they knew very well. There was a soft smile on her face that almost reached her eyes as she said greeted them with their inside joke.

There had been a time once when she had treated both boys and father at separate times all in one day. Each time she had gone into the waiting room with out looking and introduced herself to Laura again and again. By the third time Laura had been so anxious and so short nerved that she had snapped," I know who you are doctor; just tell me how my husband is." From then on Dr. Casey had taken charge of the Hardys' cases every time they came to the ER. She figured if she had to put up with all three of the men in one day God was trying to tell her something. That had always been there joke.

If only it could make them laugh this time.

"Samantha, how are they?" Laura asked as both Con and Fenton stood.

Casey sighed, never in her years had she'd seen such brutality, even in the case of the Hardys. It was times like these that she understood the wisdom behind detachment, but it was to late now.

"Joe is in the ICU. We took him into surgery and managed to get all the bleeding to stop. It was actually better then we thought; no organs were majorly damaged, just blood vessels and a slight tare in one of his arteries. He's got a few fractures in his face which we're going to have to fix, and his right arm is dislocated.

"They broke four of his ribs. The burns are nothing serious; they're just going to be painful. He's had over two hundred stitches, and he has a concussion. All in all a pretty normal account for Joe," Casey said, trying to get a smile from the worried parents. It didn't work and she could clearly see the anguish on their faces. "He's going to be fine, and after the swelling goes down some we'll put plates in his face for the fractures. For right now we'll just keep him as still as possible."

Laura and Fenton both breathed a sigh of relief; one son was going to be alright.

"And Frank?" Laura asked, her voice echoing the fear of everyone in the room.

"Frank isn't doing so well. Right now the only thing in his favor is that he doesn't appear to have any internal bleeding. He's kidneys are bruised and that scared us at first, but there's no bleeding. However, his right hand is pretty nearly mangled and he'll need surgery for that if he'll ever be able to use it again. There's a clean break on the bridge of his nose that caused a bad nose bleed. He had a serious concussion, the cuts were mostly minor. A few were deep enough for stitches, but only a few.

"Most of the burns on his left thigh and hip were first or second degree, they're painful but easier to manage. The bite marks are a big concern for infection, right now his body is so weak that I don't think he'll be able to survive an infection. We'll clean the wounds hourly and watch for any signs that they're festering. Right now my two biggest concerns are Frank's back and his throat.

"Frank's back is severely burn. There not exactly third degree burns because he still registers pain in the burned areas but so close it doesn't matter. I'm treating them like third degree burns and that means stripping off the dead skin and applying skin graphs to cover the area. It also means regular cleaning of the area and, when I think it's safe, morphine. The cruelest part though, is that because he was strangled his throat is swelling, which is why he stopped breathing when you turned him over, he has to be tubed. In order to be tubed he has to be placed on his back. For now he's still unconscious, but when he wakes up……"

A silence filled the room as her words sunk in. Con was taking notes of the brother's conditions and making a list of questions he wanted to ask the doctor after the Hardys were gone. It was finally Fenton who voiced the shared question…

"What are Frank's chances?"

Casey sighed and rubbed her right hand for a moment, buying time to think about what she was going to say. "If he doesn't get an infection his chances are pretty good. It'll be a slow and painful recovery, but he'll recover, almost completely. He'll have stiffness in his back and his right hand may not work fully, but that's about it."

"If he gets an infection?" Fenton pushed.

Casey looked straight in the father's eyes, "If he gets an infection then I hope to God you get these bastards and give them the same chance they gave your boys. Frank won't survive an infection and they shouldn't survive prison."

It was the first time that either parent had heard the old, gentle grandmother with graying hair and wrinkles talk so venomously about another human. But they couldn't blame her. Their son's were lying in the ICU, one of them in the balance, while those responsible were out there in the world.

It was sometime before Con managed to ask the finally and probably most important question, "What are Frank's chances of getting an infection?"

"High," was all the doctor said.

**- line -**

He had been to the crime scene. An old familiar kitchen was he could always stop by for coffee and eggs in the morning or a dinner at night. A place where he could play poker with friends, and talk. Where he had seen both Frank and Joe racing through on their way out or in. The most memorable time the first day of school last year where Frank woke Joe up with a glass of water, and the Joe then chased him around the kitchen unable to catch him though.

So many good memories now tainted forever with red.

He had seen the crime scene, the two patrol men who were flushed looking standing guard out side and refusing to go in. He had seen the blood that outlined where two bodies had been. And his mind couldn't understand how come he wasn't looking at a murder scene. How could anyone survive this let alone two teenage boys? His mind couldn't wrap around the idea.

He had been to the crime scene, he had seen it, and he had failed to believe it.

He made his way grimly to the ICU. Con had filled him in on all that he knew as soon as he arrived. The hospital had given the Hardys a special room, both brothers were there together. An officer standing guard with security making special sweeps of the floor every hour or so. The boys were as safe as they could be, but wasn't that true when they were at home?

The officer, actually Detective Anderson, a long time friend of the Hardys ad Ezra, nodded to the chief of police as he passed. The old detective looked grim and sour faced, his hand rested on the gun at him hip and his badge dangled around his neck. His gray hair was unkempt and his cloths told that he had come in from off duty. Ezra raised his eyebrows at the man's appearance.

"Lizzy and I were doing yard work when I heard about it on the police scanner. I volunteered, Lizzy goanna bring 'em dinner in a little while," he answered the unasked question.

Ezra gave the man a pat on the shoulder and nodded as he headed into the room. He was met by Fenton, who had positioned himself between the door and his sons. 'Just like an old law dog,' Ezra thought grimly. Laura sat between her two boys, but was also watching the door ready to give her all in case it was someone who meant harm.

The boys were both asleep. Joe was farthest from the door being the less serious of the two brothers. He was hooked up to several IVs and monitors. He resembled a mummy with all the bandages that covered him, but it was nothing compared to Frank. The eldest brother had wires and tubes just about everywhere you could imagine. He had IVs in both arms, and was hocked up to several monitors. If Joe was a mummy, Frank was a roll of paper. There was barely a part of his chest and arms that wasn't bandages and huge patched of bandages covered his neck. He had a breathing tube that made an eerie sound each time he took a breath.

Both were pale. Both boys looked vonurable. Both looked so much younger then they had any right to be.

For a moment Ezra couldn't say anything, he couldn't do anything but stare at the two boys that he knew so well lying there looking so abused and broken. He couldn't see anything but the nightmare. But as Joe let out a soft moan and Laura moved to comfort him that fear that had him spell bond was broken and the anger took its place.

"I have people canvassing your neighborhood and we're searching for similar crimes. I need to know if anything was taken and as soon as Joe is ready, we'll need him to talk. Fenton, Laura, I don't know what to tell you except that this is right now Bayport's priority case."


	9. Suspect for Persecution Part One

**Suspect for Persecution Part One**

Con pulled into the driveway of a pleasant, friendly looking house with a huge elm tree in the front yard. The house was two storied and painted white with a light blue trim. There were flowers lining the path to the front door as well as the house and a lush, neat lawn wrapped around towards a back yard. The neighborhood where this house stood was full of haply screeching children as they ran up and down the street playing. Their were neighbors talking pleasantly about little things. The sky was even the perfect shade of blue. It all seemed safe, domestically tranquil; the American ideal of happiness. It was the perfect imagine of suburbia, an image that would forever be tainted.

"Hey Gray, CSI guys in side?" Con asked the officer who was standing guard.

"Hey Con. Yeah, it's just old Larry and me here," the young officer replied, stepping out of the way to let Con pass.

"Thanks," Con said as he took a deep breath and entered the house. It was his first time visiting the crime scene and he was amazed at how surreal it all looked. The destruction, the blood trail leading to the kitchen…this wasn't the Hardy house he knew. He was more then a little overwhelmed by the reality of it all. But he had a job to do, more so then ever now, so he pushed all his feelings away and headed for the one place he didn't want to see.

"Hey Larry, your call said you have something for me," Con called from the entranceway to the kitchen. He was booth looking and not looking around at the now rust colored floors.

"Sure do," Larry, a middle aged, thin, awkward looking man, said who was bending over something on the floor. "I've got a shit load of good news for you."

"Well, we could certainly use good news right about now. What's up?"

Larry stood to his full height of five four and faced Con a satisfied smile on his face. "Your boys were amateurs. They left foot prints, finger prints, and even DNA. One of them is a smoker too. And you're looking for three, two male and I'm almost sure one female. Also, they weren't here to take stuff, there's jewelry and money still upstairs. The only place they trashed was down here."

"That's good, that's really good. How long will it take you lab boys to process?" Con asked.

"I've put a rush on it, already sent the rest of my guys back with the stuff. I'm just here making sure we didn't miss anything. I've worked with Hardy before, and I have a lot of respect for the man," Larry said. The two fell into a semi strained silence as Con took a look around him. He could feel his stomach rebelling and he wanted to run, but Larry kept him there. "How are the boys?"

"Joe seems to be alright for now. He got lucky, they're pretty sure he's going to make it. Frank wasn't so lucky. We may be looking at a murder case…."

"Damn. At least when we catch the bastards we'll have enough evidence to nail them to the wall," Larry said somberly.

"Thanks Larry, for all that you and your team have done here. I appreciate it more then you know. Call me when you guys are done," Con said as he turned to leave, no longer able to stay there.

"Sure thing," Larry said to his retreating back already turning back to his work.

**- line -**

Outside the house Con took a moment to breath in the fresh sent of flowers in the early June sunshine. He needed it to keep him from losing his stomach.

Down the path, he could see the patrolman talking to a gentleman somewhere in his fifties who was trying his best to control a hyperactive puppy. The officer looked up towards the house and waved to Con.

"Detective! You're going to want o talk to this fellow!" he called as Con started to head over to the pair.

Con stuck out his hand when he arrived and said, "I'm Detective Riley, and you are?"

"Name's John Rose, I live across the street from the Hardys," the man said as he took Con's hand. "And this here is Kipper," the man added, nodding down to the puppy who was sniffing the detective's feet.

"Well hello there Kipper," Con said, giving the dog a friendly pat on the head. He then turned his attention back to the man and asked, "Mr. Rose, do you know what happened here last night?"

"I know that Frank and Joe were rushed to the hospital and that the police have been knocking on everyone's door except that I just got home and my son was out when they stopped by my house," Rose answered.

"Do you know anything about why?" Con asked, hopefully.

"Well, I don't know what happened in there," he said, nodding to the house, "But I do know that there was a beat up red Ford truck parked up the street for most of the night last night. And I do know that, that was the first time I saw that particular car in this neighborhood."

Con's ears perked up and his hart fluttered, "Did you by any chance get a license plate?"

Rose smiled and nodded, "Only because they had run up into Mrs. Patty's yard and dented her mailbox," Rose dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper and looked it over. "Yup, this is it."

As he was handing it to Con a black Honda pulled into Rose's driveway and a young man got out. The boy couldn't have been much older then Frank; he was tall with blond hair and green eyes. He was dressed in all black and very neatly. The way that he looked and walked kind of reminded Con of a vampire from some old movie he'd once seen.

"Bobby, come here for a second," Rose called over to the boy.

The boy did as he was told and joined the small group of officers and his father. "What's up dad?" he asked calmly, eyeing everyone with suspicion.

Con answered before Rose could, "The Hardy's had a break in last night and Frank and Joe were booth hurt."

Bobby's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped somewhat. "Are they alright?"

"They had it rough, but they're stable," Con assured the boy. "Did you see anything suspicious last night? Anything that didn't seem right?"

"I'm sorry officer, I wasn't here. I went out with my girlfriend and we met up with my cousin and his girlfriend. In fact, I spent the night at my cousin's house, I'm just getting back."

Con studied the boy, going over in his mind what the boy was saying, weighing it, then he nodded. "What about this past week, anything unusual?" again Bobby said no and Con felt his hope dwindling. But he decided to ask one more question, "You boys go to the same school don't you? Has anyone at school been talking trash?"

Bobby seemed to think for a minuet then he nodded, "You know there has been, but I don't think the guy meant anything by it…" Bobby said nervously.

"What guy?" Con pushed.

"This guy's sort of a friend; I mean I help tutor him sometimes with Frank. Frank and I are both part of the same peer mediation group and well we help some of the underclassmen with science and math," Bobby said, shifting his feet.

"Look, Bobby, I know that it's hard to give a friend's name to the police, especially under these circumstances. But right now Frank and Joe are in the hospital and the police are trying to figure out why. We need all the evidence and suspects that we can get. It's most likely that your friend has nothing to do with what happened, but we still need to know," Con stated, almost pleadingly.

"Bobby, help the officers please," Rose said, putting his own two cents in. Even the dog seemed to agree with Con.

Bobby gave a sigh and nodded, "His name's Josh Whelm, I hear him threaten Frank. Frank played it off, said that he was just blowing off steam, but…" Bobby looked over to the Hardy's house and drifted off.

Con let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and bowed his head, "Thank you," he said, "Thank you very much."


	10. Chapter 10

Joe's return to reality was a hard one. He had already thrown up several times as the pain had hit him in wave after waves almost consuming him. The only relief was the soft murmurs that came from his mother who he could feel rubbing small circles in his back and holding him firmly while he tremble.

"It's alright Joey," his mother kept saying, "You're safe, your father and I are here, you're safe…."

It took Joe sometime to realize that he was crying and that his mother wasn't just trying to ease his pain but trying to stop the tears that were falling. But Joe couldn't stop crying, and at the moment he didn't care. He hurt everywhere, he was scared, and his brother was hurt. He didn't care if he was acting like a baby, he wanted Frank. He wanted his mother and father to make all the monsters go away and make the nightmare end. He wanted to be a baby for a few minuets.

After sometime it seemed that he finally had no more tears and he was quite content to rest his throbbing head on his mother's shoulder and let her rock him. He kept his eyes closed; still not ready to face the world, until he felt a hand on his forehead.

"Joe, how do you feel?" asked a caring voice from in front of him.

"My head hurts," Joe whispered, looking up at the doctor. "How's Frank?" he asked her.

Dr. Casey gave him a soft smile and moved so he could see the bed next to him where his brother was. "He's stable Joe, he's hanging in there. He hasn't woken up yet though."

Joe's eyes were transfixed on his brother as he asked his next question, "How bad is he?" Joe felt his mother's grip on him tighten some and he felt fear flutter inside him. "How bad?" he repeated.

"He's not good," Casey said, knowing it was pointless to lie to the brothers, "But he's doing much better then when he was first brought in." Casey moved so that she was now blocking Joe's view of Frank and he had no choice but to look at her. "Joe, how are you feeling?"

"Sore, my whole body hurts, but my head's the worst and my leg…" Joe said, leaning into his mother.

"Do you think you can talk to the police? Chief Collign is here, but if you can't then I'll tell him to come back latter."

"No, I can talk to him," Joe said with a sigh.

"If you're sure…"

"I am."

Casey nodded and disappeared out of the room, moments latter booth Ezra and Fenton entered.

"Hey Joey," Fenton said with a smile, walking over to his son. He cupped Joe's face and studied him for a minuet to reassure himself that Joe was truly awake. He felt Laura take his hand in hers and he gave her hand a soft squeeze before bending down to give Joe's brow a kiss.

Ezra hung back to let the family spend a moment together. Though he desperately wanted to know what Joe had to say, he also knew that it was important for Joe to understand that his parents were there for him. He also knew that Fenton would be able to see if Joe was up for some Q and A at the moment. So he waited for Fenton to step behind his wife and son and give a nod of approval before he stepped up.

"Hello Joe," Ezra said.

"Hi Chief," was the subdued reply, and Ezra felt his hart lurch. One thing Joe Hardy was not was subdue and for him to appear so, things had to be rough.

"Joe, I want you to tell me everything that happened. I want you to take your time and we'll stop when ever you want to, but I need you to be as detailed and specific as possible," Ezra said firmly, locking eyes with the youngest Hardy.

Joe nodded and gave a sigh. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before he began, "Vanessa and I were at the Bermont Carnival, Frank and Callie had been with us but Frank got sick so Callie took him home. That was around five, five thirty I think. Vanessa and I stayed for the fireworks. No, we didn't see anybody following us. No, we didn't see anybody out of the ordinary. And no, Frank said nothing about anyone following him and Callie home when he called."

Ezra smiled, somewhat bitterly, at Joe's statements. By now booth boys knew the drill. "Go on," he urged.

"The fireworks were over by ten. We stuck around until about ten twenty then I drove Vanessa to Callie's house; her mom's out of town so she's staying with the Shaws. Then I drove home, it was about eleven. I walked right into it, there was guy waiting for me," Joe trailed off for a second then took a deep breath and continued, "He held a knife to my throat and told me to go to the kitchen. In the kitchen there were two others, a girl with brown hair and gray eyes. She was short and a red bandana covered her face. She was rummaging through the kitchen. The other guy was tall; he wore a ski mask, all black and gloves. He was the one…" again Joe drifted off as the horror from the previous night flashed before his eyes again.

Laura tightened her hold and Fenton moved closer, messaging Joe's shoulder reassuringly. Ezra allowed Joe a minuet of comfort before he pushed Joe on, "He was the one what, Joe?"

"He was the one in charge…he was the one responsible…they had already started on Frank. They had him blind folded and gagged, tide to the posts for the pot rack. The guy was a sadistic bastard…" Joe said, trying desperately to keep his emotions in check. "He's the one who bite us and burned us. He's the one who lit Frank on fire…"

The room was silent after Joe's announcement while each adult tried to comprehend what the boys had suffered. It was Ezra who finally broke the silence.

"What about the other two?"

"The guy who was waiting for me, he was the one who beat me; the girl was the one who cut me. They were following his orders…he tried to kill Frank Chief. After he burned his back…he tried to kill him. He tried to strangle him," Joe said his blue eyes flashing wildly in the light.

"Joe, look at me," Ezra ordered, crouching so that he was eye level with Joe. The youth did as he was told; his eyes wide and round like a fearful child who still had fully awaken from the nightmare, "We'll get them Joe, we'll get all three of them. I promise."


	11. Chapter 11

Con pulled up to his second perfect suburbia image that day. The Shaw's lived in a nice two storied house with a one car garage and a big open lawn. The house was a nice airy shade of blue with white trim and a garden. It too was in a nice neighborhood, with children playing and neighbors chatting away the Sunday. But this place lacked the cop cars and taint that the Hardy's neighborhood and house now had.

Before Con climbed out of his car he made a phone call to one of the detectives on his squad and his partner this time around who was back at the station.

"Hey Carry?"

"_Hey Con, what's up?"_

"I stopped by the crime scene and spoke to Larry, he had good news. We have trace evidence and possible DNA. He'll call when he has something. I have my own good news, I need you to run a licenses plate for me, 901X547, and do a search on a Josh Whelm; he was heard threatening Frank by one of the neighbors."

"_That is good, and I have news to match. The Chief called, Joe Hardy's awake and the Chief got his statement. He'll be back at the station in about an hour and a half. He wants us to have a briefing together."_

"That's good; I should be back there by then. Right now I'm at the home of Callie Shaw, and I'm going to interview her. I was going to interview Vanessa Bender too, but I guess that'll have to wait."

"_No it won't, Chief said to tell you that Vanessa was staying with the Shaws."_

"That's convenient," Con sad with a smile. "I'll see you in about an hour or so."

"_Right and I'll give you a call when I hear from Larry. Take care Con."_

"Take care," Con returned then hung up. He sighed and climbed out of his car and headed for the Shaw's front door.

Mrs. Shaw, a pretty woman with shoulder length blond hair and brown eyes greeted him on the second knock, "Hello, may I help you?"

"I'm sorry to bother you ma'am, but my Name is Con Riley, and I'm a detective with the Bayport Police Department," he answered, showing her his badge. "I was wondering if I could speak to your daughter, Callie and her friend Vanessa Bender if Vanessa is still here. They're not in trouble I assure you; I just need to ask them a few questions."

Mrs. Shaw studied the badge, the smile that was on her face wavering slightly, "Vanessa is here and they're in the living room. Please, follow me."

Con followed the woman through her neatly furnished home to the living room where two girls sat across from each other on the floor talking and laughing without a car in the world. He recognized the girls as soon as he saw them as Frank and Joe's girlfriends and here they were blind to the turmoil that their boyfriends were in. Now Con was going to destroy their clueless happiness, and it made him ill.

"Girls, this is detective Riley, he's needs to speak to you," Mrs. Shaw said from the entranceway. Booth girls looked up, a smile on their faces to hide their confusion as Con stepped in.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you ladies, but I need to ask a few questions," he said softly to them.

Callie and Vanessa booth stood, looking from Mrs. Shaw to Con, trying to figure out what was going on. It was Callie who spoke first, "You work with Mr. Hardy on cases, and Frank and Joe right?"

"Yes, that's right. I'm a friend of theirs. I know that you two are their girlfriends, right?"

"Yes," Callie confirmed.

"Girls, I'm not going to beat around the bush. Last night some people broke into the Hardy's house and they attacked Frank and Joe. They're booth hurt pretty bad and are in the hospital right now," Con had to stop speaking and look away from the two teenagers as he saw the anguish wash over their faces. He hated himself for that; he hated himself for taking these girls day, a good, ordinary day, and tearing it to pieces. He hated the look on their faces, the tears that were now falling freely from their eyes. He hated the people responsible and now more then ever wanted to find them. He hated this whole day.

Mrs. Shaw, who had remained in the entranceway, was quick to come to the girls sides. She pulled booth girls to her and did her best to sooth them. Her eyes met Con's and held a million questions to which he had no answer. It would take a minuet for the girls to get over their initial shock, but Con was willing to wait.

When they were finally calm enough to talk, Con started again, "I want to first assure you booth that the boys are stable, Joe's even awake and they expect Frank to wake up soon. I also want to assure you that you aren't suspected of anything and the only reason I want to talk to you is that you are the last known people to see the boys ok?"

The girls nodded and waited.

"Callie, Mrs. Hardy said that you took Frank home?"

"He was having a migraine…a really bad one. He couldn't even see straight. We left the Carnival around five thirty. I drove him home, and I stayed until about eight thirty. He got sick, he was throwing up and I didn't want to leave him like that…" she said softly.

Con gave her a smile, "I understand. What did the two of you do while you were there?"

"I made him go and take a shower while I cooked him some dinner after he was done throwing up. I know that his stomach was upset, but I wanted him to have something in him so I made soup. He ate it, called his mom while I made some tea. Then he drank the tea and took some Tylenol and went to bed. Then I came home."

Con nodded and turned to Vanessa, "Vanessa, can you tell me what happened at the Carnival?"

"After Frank and Callie left, we joined up with a few friends, Chet, and Biff and just walked around until the fireworks. After the fireworks Joe took me here, and then he went home. That's all that happened."

"Did any of you notice someone following you? Or maybe there was someone who came to the door while you were at the Hardy house, Callie? Somebody speak to the boys who you guys didn't know?"

The girls thought for a moment, but shock their heads. Vanessa answered for booth of them when she said, "I didn't notice anybody."

"What about a guy named Josh Whelm? Did any of you see him at the Carnival?"

"Josh was there, he was in the parking lot when Frank and I were heading out," Callie answered. "Is Josh a suspect?"

"We had a witness say that they heard him threaten Frank, do you know anything about that?" Con asked, deciding to take a chance telling the girls about their only lead as of now.

"Well yeah, but Josh does that a lot. He wouldn't hurt Frank; Frank's the only person who'd work with him…" Callie said confused.

"So you know about the threat?"

"Yeah, I was there. Finals are next week and Frank found out that Josh was going to cheat. The rules of the tutoring program are that if you find evidence of academic dishonesty you have to report it, and Frank had. Josh wasn't allowed to return to the tutoring program and he now has to take the finals with a teacher watching him. He was angry and he threatened Frank," Callie said.

"What did he say? Do you remember?"

"I think he said 'I'm going to beat you to death with my own two hands Hardy.'"

Con gave her a smile and nodded, "Thank you, thank you booth," Con turned to leave but a thought hit him. 'The Hardy's have a security system, how did the boys' attackers get in with out setting it off?'

"Callie, when you left, did you turn on the alarm?"

Callie looked at him blankly for a second and then a wash of anguish crossed her face, "I didn't know the combination and Frank was asleep…oh God, it was my fault that they got in…" she said as she slumped into her mother.

Con cursed silently, agree with himself all over again, "I doubt that the alarm would have posed much of a problem for the ones responsible. This is not your fault do you understand?" Con said as firmly as he could. "I don't want ether of you two to think that, alright?"

The girls nodded, Callie still leaning on her mother.

"You two have helped a lot, thank you. And I'm sure that the Hardy's would appreciate a visit from you girls…" Con added, looking up at Mrs. Shaw.

She nodded catching on to what he was suggesting, "Of course. Why don't you girls help me make some food to take over for them? Then we'll go see them."

"Thank you ladies," Con said again, "I'll show myself out."


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry about te wait all, my computor crashed. But as you can tell it's back to running smoothly and i'll be updating normally again soon. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the new chap.

* * *

"So where do we stand?" Ezra asked as his team gathered in is office. He had just finished reading them Joe's statement and updating them on the boys' condition. Joe was making vast improvement while Frank was still critical but stable.

It was a small team, made up of only six people, himself included, but it was all he knew that they needed. Every body in the room was someone he trusted, someone he knew, and someone who knew the Hardy's.

There were Con Riley and his partner Carry Turner; Con was like family to the Hardy's and Carry's kids played on the same football team. There was Assistant DA Sharon Brooks, a hell o a lawyer who worked closely with Fenton several times. Normally she worked high profile crimes because she had away of dealing with the press like no other, but this time she had asked to be assigned this one. No one argued.

Next to her was the CSI team leader the odd ball Larry Walker, shifting through files. He may not have been as close to the Hardy' as the others, but he was the best and he had seen the boys being taken away, there was nothing short of lack of evidence that would stop him. Rounding out the team was Sam Radly, Fenton's assistant and friend. Normally civilians weren't allowed on police investigations, but this time it was different. Sam could get into places more easily and with less restraints then a police officer and that would come in handy.

Larry sat up straight and started to shuffle his papers around as he spoke. "We put a rush on all the evidence gathered from the scene. We got lucky, whoever's responsible had no idea what they were doing and didn't cover their tracks. We found cigar buds scattered about as well as prints, booth finger and foot. Unfortunately that's where our luck ends. We got no matches. All I can tell you is that there were three people in the house besides the Hardys. Two males, one female; get me a suspect and I'll get you a match. I can also tell you that all the blood on he floor belongs to the boys, not our suspects. There was trace amounts of litter fluid on the island counters and we found a litter near by. It's your standard, gas station litter but I've got a guy tracing it," Larry concluded as he finally sat still.

"Get back to m as soon as your guy's done," Ezra ordered, then turned his attention to Con. "What did you learn from questioning the girls?"

"Callie was the last one in the house before the break in. Frank had been sick and she was basically taking care of him. When he fell asleep, she left. She thinks that she left the alarm off, she didn't know the code. Vanessa was the last one to see Joe. They left the carnival around ten thirty and he dropped her off at the Shaw home around ten forty. He must have gotten home around eleven; it took me twenty five minuets to get to the Shaw home from the Hardy's and knowing Joe has a lead foot…"

"So basically there's noting?" Ezra asked, ignoring the attempt at a joke.

"No sir, there is something. Before I left for the Saw house I ran into a neighbor who saw a car parked up the street from the Hardy house. He even got a plate number; apparently the person had run over a mailbox."

"I ran the plate," Carry added, "It came back to a Samantha Whelm, which is really good news because it means we have a suspect."

"Samantha is the daughter of Jake and Marry Whelm, and the sister to Josh Whelm. While the rest of the family has nothing more serious then parking tickets, Josh has already been in trouble. He's not in the system because he's never been arrested, but he's this close from getting expelled. I have two witnesses who say that they heard him threaten Frank. One being the same neighbor's kid, a Bobby Rose, who works with Frank at a tutoring program after school and Callie Shaw. Callie even saw him threaten Frank."

Ezra could barely contain his glee at the news, it was the first solid lead they had gotten all day and he was so willing to run with it, but he had to be cautious, "Is this boy capable of something like this?"

"I don't know. I have to see. Carry and I are going to interview him," Con answered.

"Chief, if I may, this is nothing tangible, nothing that will hold up in court, it's just what I hear my boys saying. But from what they've told me Josh Whelm likes to fight. He goes out of his way to find fights. But like I said, that's just gossip I hear from my sons," Carry added.

Ezra nodded, and seemed to be thinking her words over, then he nodded, "Well why don't you go see for yourself what this kid is like."

The two detectives stood to leave, but Sharon's voice stopped them. "Chief, believe me I am not trying to tell you how to run your show. I agree with everything you've said. However, knowing that Fenton is a high profile detective and so are his sons I don't want to abandon the idea that this is related to one of their cases, not this early in the game. Kind of like, better to cover all your bases then to let the other team get a runner on first."

"I agree with Miss. Brooks, Ezra. I want to ask your permeation to go digging through the Hardy's case files. I'm the only one here who has complete accesses and even background knowledge to the cases," Sam added.

"I see no reason as to why not. Don you have to enter the crime scene?" Ezra asked.

"Yes, Fenton doesn't have Frank's faith in computers, he still keeps files in filing cabinets," Sam said with a small smile.

"Larry, are you and your boys done with the scene?" Ezra asked the CSI.

"We are for now, but if you don't mind I want to send one of my team there with you. When this goes to trial I want no argument about chain of custody. I want no evidence to be thrown out," Larry answered, his eyes locked on Sam.

Sam gave him a smile and a nod. They were all on the same page. "Well then it's settled, Miss Brooks, would you care to join us sense it was your idea?"

"Whatever I can do," was the unhesitant answer.

"While you all are playing detective, I'm going back to the hospital. I want to be there when Frank wakes up. Let's get going people; we've got work to do."


	13. Suspect for Persecution Part Two

**Suspect for Persecution Part Two**

Carry and Con pulled up into a debilitated trailer park. The lawns were dirt, the driveways little better then gravel. A highway overpass rumbled on above their heads. Most of the trailers had seen better days for sure. Their white paint was now gray and peeling. Some had holes in their 'foundations.' Empty beer cans and bottles were scattered about, broken glass, garbage, and deflated toys littered the place. There were cars and trucks up on cinder blocks and on a muddy field several children played.

In the center of it all was one trailer that stood neat and tidy. It was sadly obvious that the owners had tried their best to make something out of a poor situation. The trailer was painted a crisp sky blue; it had an almost full lawn and a small garden of flowers and vegetables. There were several lawn chairs and a lawn table off to one side with a grill. An old beat up red ford was parked in front of the almost rotten steps right next to another old beat up green ford.

"That's our car," Carry said, nodding her head towards the truck.

"Sure is," Con agreed. "Hey Carry, when we go in there, try not to corner him alright? Give him some breathing room. He's just a suspect."

Carry looked at her partner and smiled. Most people would grumble about being told how to do something they already knew, but Carry found it refreshing. She'd been a detective for only six months now and Con had whole heartedly taken her under his wing. Most of the time the advice h gave her was just that, advice. No criticism, no demeaning attitude just a mentor teaching. He trusted her to do her job and allowed her the room to learn. She couldn't have asked for a better partner.

"Sure thing boss man, you're in charge," she answered and held the screen door for Con to knock.

An elderly man with graying hair and a pot belly answered on the seventh knock. "What you want?"

"Mr. Whelms?" Con began.

"That's me, what you want?"

"I'm Detective Con Riley, Bayport PD and this is Detective Carry Turner. We're here to speak to your son about an incident yesterday."

"The boy 'isn't here. Hasn't been here since Friday."

"Well, do you know where he is?" Carry asked.

"Nope. Law says I have to provide a home. Says nothing about following him around and making sure he comes home," Whelms snapped.

"Dad, you need to get ready for work, and Mama wants a word," came a voice from just behind the man.

"Can't you see I'm talking to someone," he growled turning around to revile a girl about a head shorter and no bigger round then a pole. She was pretty, in the anorexic sort of way, with pale skin and red hair. There were traces of washed out purple dye through out that the pony tale failed to hid. Though she was tiny, she didn't give off any signs of being timid and instead of stepping back from her father; she squared her shoulders and stared him down.

"I can see that, and I can hear that they're talking about Josh. I know more about Josh then you do, now you have to be at work in two hours and Mama wants to talk to you," she said stubbornly.

Whelms just growled and gave in. He stepped away from the door, giving is daughter a kiss on the cheek before disappearing into the trailer.

The two copes watched the scene with slight amusement at how the child handled her father, but said nothing.

"I'm sorry," the girl apologized, "right now my brother isn't my father's favorite subject. They had a fight Friday morning and Josh hasn't been seen since. I'm Sam, what can I do for you?"

"Hi Sam," Carry spoke up before Con could. "I'm Carry and this is Con, we need to find your brother. Do you have any idea where he is?"

"Nope. Josh keeps his friends to himself, well except for Kenny. But I doubt he'd be there. What he do?"

"What makes you think he did anything?" Carry asked her.

"A friend of mine called, Bobby said that you might be looking for Josh. Said something about a break in at the Hardy home. I told him that Josh wasn't here, I haven't seen him since Friday."

"You haven't seen him or heard from him since Friday?" Carry asked her, her eyes narrowing. Con just smiled and let Carry take over, he knew that look and he knew what was coming.

"Yeah, that's right," Sam said.

"Then can you explain to me why your truck was seen at the Hardy's house yesterday ad is now back in your driveway?"

There were voices in the distance that he should have known. Blurry faces of people that he should have recognized. Hands that were touching him, trying to offer some sense of comfort. But nothing was getting through his mind passed the pain.

Fiery shots of pain that seemed to have no starting point and no ending. The pulsed through him with every hart beat, every gasp and every touch. Then there was the feeling of him suffocating…of something in his throat blocking his air flow and each breath was frantic.

He could hear soft words like, "Safe…Alright…We're here…" but they meant nothing. The only thing that meant anything to him at the moment was the prick he felt in his arm and then the cool burst that flew through his vain, and soon afterwards the inky blackness that took him to a painless sleep.

Fenton and Ezra stood back from Frank, letting Casey finish her work. Laura had taken a position next to Joe, trying to keep her baby from rushing to his brother. Even now she could feel the tense muscles in his back as he looked on.

Frank had started to regain consciousness a little while ago and at first this was a good thing; until the fuzziness that was unconsciousness went away and his body started to feel again. He had started to thrash around in his bed, nearly tearing the IV's from his arms. His breathing had come dangerously close to hyperventilation and his hands had tried to pull the tube out of his mouth. Nothing anyone said or did had made a difference, the boy's mind was to gone with pain and fear for any sense.

It wasn't until Casey had sedated him that he had calmed, and now he was unconscious again. Casey sighed as she stepped away from the teen and looked around to the worried faces in the room.

"I'm going to keep him sedated until he can breath on his own again which should only take about a day for the swelling to subside enough. He's IV's are going to have to be changed, and we may have to restrain him in case he wakes up again. But I tell you the fact that he was fighting means that he's a lot better off then I first thought. I'm still worried about infection setting in, and I'm still not sure that he'll survive one, but his chances are certainly looking better.


	14. Chapter 14

Sam, Larry and Sharon had been shifting through each case file that Fenton had. The only sound that could be heard was the shifting of paper and people, occasionally someone would hold up a file and ask a question and Sam would answer it, but that was rare.

Sam was finding it hard to focus the documents. He found himself amazed at how untouched the upstairs was compared to the downstairs. And he didn't even want to think about the downstairs. The glimpse of what he saw would give him nightmares for the rest of the year. But there was something nagging at him.

The down stairs was a mess, but nothing was taken. Nothing stolen, not even the money that Laura kept for rainy days. Up stairs the most disarray was a blood trail in the hall way, and it really couldn't be called a blood trail. More like drops of blood, like a nose bleed….

"Hey," Sam said, his voice breaking the trance of the others. "Did you process the blood trail in the hall up here?"

"Yeah, it was a low amount, meaning no serious injury and older then the rest of the blood," Larry answered.

Sam nodded and thought for a second, using his personal knowledge of the family to breath new life into the clues. There was something about the blood that was important but what? 'It's an unimportant amount of blood. The crime wasn't committed up here, the crime was in the kitchen. But why is there blood up here then? Where did it come from?'

"…_Frank had been sick…"_

Sam sat up straighter, a light turning on in his mind, "Frank was sick, that's why he was home before Joe, right?"

"According to Joe and the girlfriend," Sharon answered, "What are you thinking?"

"What was making Frank sick?" Sam asked, ignoring Sharon's question.

"A migraine I think. I found a bottle of Claritin as well as Excedrin in the kitchen," Larry answered, "both those tell me that he has bad sinuses."

"He does. Poor kid every year about this time is in sinus hell. They finally figured out his sinus headaches and migraines are caused by congestion and mucus build up. They put him on Zyrtec at first but for some reason it caused his nose to bleed…" Sam's jaw dropped and he looked at Larry.

Larry, that blood trail, could it have been caused by a nose bleed?" Sam asked eagerly.

"Certainly, why?" was the answer.

"The upstairs was untouched. They weren't here to steal anything, and the only place that was trashed was the downstairs. They had no reason to come up here because Frank wasn't up here, he was downstairs. Larry I need you to check that Claritin right away!"

* * *

For the first time since their arrival Con saw a reaction form Sam. It was brief, and if he hadn't been looking for it then he probably would have missed it. But for half a second she paled and her eyes grew wide, but it was just half a second.

"The trucks back?" she asked disbelief in her voice as she peered over the two detectives in order to see. "Well, I'll be damned," she mumbled.

"I take it you didn't hear it pull up, or your brother come in?" Carry asked.

"I was taking a nap, finals are killers. I woke up when Bobby called me," she answered meeting the detectives gaze unflinching.

"Is there someone else at home who could have seen your brother? A parent?" Carry continued, equally as cool.

"I am the parent detective," Sam answered flat out, showing the first signs of emotion since the conversation started. In seconds her manner changed from that of a strong, hard headed woman to a scared and very, very angry and bitter girl. "My brother isn't here, and no you can't come in to look. Please leave and don't come back without a warrant," Sam politely snapped as she started to close the on the pair. Con, however, had one last thing to ask.

Using a voice he'd dubbed 'the father voice,' Con started Sam down and said, "Excuse me young lady, but there is still one question left." Sam froze, hesitating at the new found authority in the detective, and that was all that Con needed. Now softening his voice but still keeping that authoritarian edge continued, "If your brother isn't here and he car is; where could your brother be?"

Sam flushed slightly and looked at the ground, weighing her answer. With a heavy sigh she looked Con in the eye, "He did something bad didn't he? Something really bad?"

Con nodded, holding her gaze.

"He hurt someone? He lost his cool and hurt someone didn't he?"

Still holding her gaze Con answered, "We don't know, but we think so. We need to talk to him."

Sam weighed the information; she weighed her brother's short temper, his past actions, and the honesty which she found in Con's gaze. Her eyes began to tear at the knowledge of what she was about to do and she shuddered. "Kenny's trailer is three rows down, it's a grayish white with an over grown lawn and a car on cinderblocks.

"Thank you," was all Con could say, and he said it to a door.

* * *

Biff and Chet were downstairs waging battle on each other in the form of _Halo._ Mr. and Mrs. Morton were in the kitchen playing checkers and spending a quite afternoon in each other's company when the shrill scream of a telephone broke the tranquility.

"Oh, stop fussing I'm coming," Mrs. Morton mumbled as she stood up to answer the phone, "and don't you think about moving one of your pieces Harry!" she warned her husband who gave an exaggerated sigh and hung his head.

Mrs. Morton answered the phone with a laugh, "Hello, Morton's farm, Margaret speaking how may I be of assistances?"

"Mrs. Morton, is Chet there?" came the trembling voice of Vanessa Bender.

"Of course he is dear, Vanessa what's wrong?" Mrs. Morton asked concern.

There was a pause on the other end as if Vanessa was trying to determine something then a heavy sigh, "You better call Chet up and Biff too if he's still there, and put me on speaker phone cause I'm only going to have the strength to say this once, I'm sorry."

"Not at all dear, hang on a second, I'll call the boys. Let me give you to Harry quick."

With out being told Mr. Morton had stepped up to take the phone and Mrs. Morton heard him talking as she went to the basement stairs. "Boys I need you up here, Vanessa is on the phone and by the sound of her voice it's important!"

She heard the sounds of an explosion and then a few muttered curses as the game was won and lost, then Chet called up, quite cheerfully, "Be right up!"

In a matter of seconds the whole household was gathered around the phone, which Mr. Morton had put on speaker for them.

"Alright dear, we're here. Go ahead."

With a deep breath and a strangled voice Vanessa told them about Frank and Joe.

* * *

At the same time Callie was talking to Phil, Frank's best friend. She had failed to get a hold of Tony, who she figured was at work and had his phone off but left a message saying to call her right away.

Phil listened patently as Callie told him tearfully what she knew. When she was done he was quite for a second, and Callie could feel the wheels of his mind turning. Phil and Frank were brothers. There was no question about it in anyone's mind. Their relationship on some days nearly matched the bond between Frank and Joe.

Callie heard him take a deep breath and exhale a curse before he spoke, "Con is probably going to want to talk to all of us since we all saw them yesterday."

'He's slipping into scientist mood, detaching from things…' Callie thought a little worried. For while she wasn't as close with Phil as Frank was, she knew him well enough to know how his mind worked. While Phil was a genius and a very mature and caring person, his emotions weren't as mature as the rest of his mind. When something happened that made him feel to strongly he had the tendency to grow cold and distant, refusing to feel anything until it became to much for him to handle. The last thing that Callie wanted was Phil losing it when he and Frank were the only two solid rocks that their group had.

"Phil are you alright?" she asked timidly.

"No, but don't worry about me, I won't flip out. Callie, have you called the others?"

"Vanessa's talking to Chet and Biff now, and I called Tony but left a message."

"Tell the other's to head over to Mr. Pizza, that's where Tony is today. Like I said, Con's going to want to talk to us and he's going to have it hard already. Let's make it easy on him and be at the same place. I'll give him a call, then come and pick you two up. Even if Con doesn't get a chance to talk to us, I still think we need to see each other right now."

Callie agreed, she couldn't find a hole in Phil's logic and knew that getting out of the house and doing something would help save her sanity.

"Alright hang on, I'll tell them...Vanessa, tell the guys that Phil wants to meet at Mr. Pizza so Con can talk to us all at once."

Vanessa nodded and repeated the request to the others, se gave a Callie a thumbs up sign then went back to her conversation.

Callie sighed and returned to Phil, "Well see you soon Phil."

* * *

"Where did you learn to talk to kids?" Carry asked Con as they made their way to Kenny's trailer.

"Well, I have three nephews and four nieces. Not to mention three Godchildren, pulse my father was pretty damn good at 'the voice' and a master of 'the look'," Con said with a shrug.

Carry laughed and nodded her head, "oh I love 'the look' it still works on my boys to date."

Con smiled and answered his phone which had started to ring while they talked. "Detective Riley."

"Con, it's Phil. Callie just told me what happened, I wanted to tell you that if you need to speak with anymore of us then Chet, Biff, Tony and I will all be at Mr. Pizza soon."

"Thanks Phil, it probably won't be me but I'll send another detective down."

"Alright…hey Con…"

"Yeah Phil?"

"Find them. Please get them."

"I will. I promise."


	15. Chapter 15

"What are you thinking Sam?" Larry asked as Sam's phone went off.

"I'm thinking Joe showing up was an accident. I think Frank was the target," Sam said as he answered it.

"Radly speaking…hey Con, listen I may have a lead….uh-huh, I can. I know the kids. I'll talk to them….alright…listen Con, I may have found something. I think Frank was the target all along and Joe just happened to get caught in it…no it's still a theory but I'm going to ask Larry to check a few things for me and when I talk to the boys' friends I'll ask them a few more questions…alright, you two be careful."

Sam ended the call and looked at the two others in the room with him. "That was Con, the boys' friends have gathered at a restaurant to make it easier for us to talk to them. I'm going to head over there now. Before I do though, Larry I need to ask a favor from you"

"Sure thing," Larry said, eagerly.

"Frank's medication, can you check it? Make sure that it's Claritin. If what I think happened then we're looking for someone with a grudge against Frank, not the Hardys."

* * *

Joe was seated staring into a mirror that plastic surgeon had left. Dr. Rockwood had come by to talk to Joe about his upcoming surgery to fix the broken cheek bone under his left eye as well as his nose and the fracture in his chine. He was now out in the hall going over everything again with his parents while they signed forms and wavers. He had been told by a nurse that Dr. Whiteman would becoming by soon to cheek on him and he was the surgeon responsible for Joe's emergency surgery.

'So many doctors, so many people…' Joe thought grumpily as he tossed the mirror down on his bed. He had seen enough of his face; cut, bruised and battered.

He didn't need visual proof to know it was bad, the pain was enough. Whenever he talked, yawned, or moved he felt the numerous injuries. His broken ribs ached, the burns on his neck felt tight and were stinging, the stitches felt wired and made his skin feel stretched. But the injuries that couldn't been seen were the ones that were causing Joe the most problems.

Joe let his gaze fall on his brother who was still unconscious. A shudder ran through his body as the pervious night flashed through his mind. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the image of the man biting Frank out of his head. He couldn't get the sound of his brother screaming out of his ears or the sight of the fire on his skin….he doubted he ever would.

Joe watched his bother's hart monitor, each beep reassuring him that Frank was still alive. He couldn't bring himself to look at Frank's chest because each time he did he ended up looking at the ugly tube protruding from his brother's throat. He let each electrical beep ease his fears until he felt his eyes grow heavy and his body cry for sleep.

A hand brushed his hair and Joe startled.

"I'm sorry Joe, I didn't mean to startle you," his mother's soothing voice reassured him.

Joe looked up into her red rimed eyes and for the millionth time cursed the ones responsible for this. He hated seeing Frank hurt, he hated being hurt, he hated seeing his mother cry and his father go into full detective mood. Why did these things always happen to them? Why them?

"It's not your fault Joe, or Franks or your fathers. Your Father's job makes earns him a lot of enemies, same as the cases that you and Frank work on. But if ether of you gave it up it would kill you, so you deal with the enemies and the threats. And you can live in the knowledge that for every enemies you earn, you earn two more friends. Right now every police officer in the city is working on your case as well as Sam and I'm sure even your friends. Just remember that, ok?" Laura said soothingly, locking eyes with her son, reading his mind before he got a chance to say anything.

There was a moment silence as both mother and son looked over to Frank's bed, both watching the hart monition before Laura spoke, "They're going to operate on Frank's hand tonight or tomorrow. Dr. Rockwood doesn't want to wait to long. So if you should wake up and he's not here don't worry."

Joe nodded and leaned back against his headboard. Laura looked over at him with a bright smile. "Why don't you get some sleep? I'll be here and I'll wake you up if Frank should come around alright?"

Joe couldn't really think of a reason to argue, except he was afraid of the nightmares that would invade his sleep. He opened his moth to tell his mom and instantly regretted it. Pain shoot through his face like a freight train. Laura's eyes grew wide and worried, but Joe held her at bay with his hand. After a few deep breaths he was able to calm the pain enough to talk.

"I'm scared mom…" he said, his own blue eyes growing wide.

Laura didn't say anything for a moment, just pulled the hospital blanket up to his chest. "So am I," she finally said, "But there's a police officer outside and your father will be back in a minuet or two, and I am here as well. Your father will keep people out and I'll wake you if you need me to. I promise."

Joe gave her a very small smile all the time thinking how funny it was that a mother's promise was all that it took to make you feel safe. He finally drifted off with his mother's hand running through his hair and the sound of Frank's hart monitor reassuring him.

* * *

_Ring. Ring._

"_Hello?"_

"_That was the hardiest thing I have ever had to do."_

"_I know, but now it's over, and don't you feel so much better?"_

_Pause._

"_Well don't you?"_

"_Yeah I do. You were right."_

"_Of course. And they'll never know. They'll never catch us."_

"_Are you sure?"_

"_I'm positive. Now listen, I got to go, but I'll meet you latter alright?"_

"_Alright."_

_Click._

_Click._

* * *

Con and Carry pulled up to the trailer that Sam had described. It was everything she had promised and worse. To call it rundown was a complement.

"What do you think?" Con asked Carry.

"I think I'd be weary of the owner," Carry answered. "You think he's really in there? Or that the owner even knows where he is?"

"The sister seems to think so," Con answered, "And we have to at least ask."

With a sigh the two detectives climbed out of the car and headed up to the door. It took several knocks for the door to open. Kenny was a young man with a bald head and alcohol and smoke on his breath. And he wasn't all too pleasant.

"What do ya want?" he snapped.

"I'm detective Con Riley and this is my partner Carry Turner, Bayport PD…" and before Con could get another word out he heard a door open and slam on the other side of the trailer.


	16. Chapter 16

For a late Sunday afternoon there was a pretty good crowd in Mr. Pizza and Tony was totally ready for his break. He sat down in one of the booths close to the entrance and gladly started in on his slice of pizza. By chance he glanced out the window just as Biff and Chet pulled up in 'Queen,' Chet's yellow junkier of a car. A smile spread across his face as he saw his two friends and h quickly moved from his seat to head out to great them in the parking lot.

"Hey, were ya going Tony?" Carry called from the cash register.

Toney turned and gave the red head a brilliant smile, "I'm not ditching I promise. I just saw two of my friends and I want to go say hi. Besides I'm on break anyways. I'll be right back." Carry gave him a smile and nodded her understanding then went back to work. Tony sighed with relief, while he liked Carry she was a hard manger to work under. She was fair and honest, and he understood that it had to be hard to be seventeen and in charge of a restaurant shift so he did his best to make things easier for her and not push her buttons.

Tony headed for the parking lot before Carry could find a reason for him to stay and waited a little impatiently for Chet and Biff to reach him. He was completely ready to tease his two friends about how slow they were, but as soon as he saw their faces all his humor went out the window. The first words out of his mouth as soon as they came with in speaking distance were, "What's happen?"

"You mean the girls haven't called you?" Biff asked, a little surprised.

"I've been working all day, I have my phone off. In fact I just got on break when I saw you two pull up. What's happened?"

"Frank and Joe are in the hospital," Chet said softly. "They were attacked by a bunch of bastards and are listed as critical. Phil thought it would be a good idea if we all got together, said it would make it easier on the police to interview us all at once."

Toney just stared at his friends unable to speak. They were still standing outside just staring at each other when Phil and the girls pulled up. No words were exchanged as the other joined them, just protective hugs and silent reassurances and offers of strength.

It was well known to all of them that the Hardy's lived dangerous lives, for none in the group hadn't experienced one of the Hardy's close calls. And it was no secret that they had enemies and people who would do anything to see them dead. Or that they were the targets of their father's enemies and often paid the price of their father's successes. But still, as the details began to be unfolded and the picture began to form of what the brother's had suffered it was hollowing.

"So they were attacked after the carnival, at home?" Toney asked after every one had gathered inside the restaurant and he had brought out some food and drinks. They had brought him up to date in the street, before moving inside, Callie and Vanessa taking turns in giving every grim detail that they had learned.

"Yup, because I left the god damn alarm off," Callie hissed bitterly.

"No one's blaming you Cal, and I highly doubt that Frank and Joe will even care. But if it makes you feel better we all forgive you," Phil said softly from his corner of the booth. Callie looked up at him with a hopeful look and searched him for any sign of a lie. There was none, a fact that she was truly grateful for.

"Anyways, it's not important what happened, we know what happened, and we know how it happened. What we need to know is why it happened, and who did it," Phil continued.

"So we can drag out their entrails and hang them by it," Toney hissed.

"Can't we just beat the shit out of them?" Biff put in.

"No, won't work. They may recover from it," Chet commented.

"I'm personally in favor of castrating them with a spoon," was Vanessa's addition.

"Why a spoon?" Chet asked.

"To quote Joe's favorite movie, 'It's dull you twit, it'll hurt more,'" she responded.

The friends shared a subdued laugh at the joke, each own thoughts distorting the humor. Would any of them have to sit through Robin Hood again?

"I make a promise right here and now, I'll never complain about watching _Prince of Thieves_ again as long as Joe is with me," Vanessa said softly, the first to break the depressing silence.

"Hell, I'll learn to play Chess as long as Frank teaches me," Callie put in and this time the other's laughed in earnest. Frank had tried to teach Callie thousands of times to play Chess, and each time it had ether ended in an argument or a make out session. In fact the joke was when ever the two were going out on a date they were going to have a Chess lesson.

"That'll be the day," Phil said, "But if what they say about laughter being the best medicine is true, you should tell that to the brothers; they'll be up and around by tomorrow."

"Hell, knowing Joe they already have to tie him down to keep him still," added Biff, and again the teenagers had an earnest laugh, which faded into silence.

"Alright, listen guys," Toney said checking his watch, "I have to get back to work but as soon as the detective gets here, I'll be back. I'll clear it with Carry."

"Sure thing Toney," Phil said as he watched his friend leave. He then turned to the others and said, "Let's go over what we know, build a time line, then when the detective gets here we'll see what the cops know…"

"What are you talking about Phil?" Chet asked, nervously.

"What I'm talking about is getting the ones responsible," Phil said, a dark look coming across his face.

"But the police…" Vanessa started.

"The police are going to do what they can and follow the evidence. That's fine, that's their job. But they're not going to be able to get information like we can. They have to follow rules, they have to have warrants and evidence and permission," Phil interrupted.

"Yes we do," Callie said, "Phil, if we don't follow rules then how are we any better then criminals?"

"How many times does Frank and Joe follow the rules on cases? How many times have they waited on the courts? Frank and Joe bend the rules all the time, and that's all I'm asking we do. I'm not saying to go and break into somebody's house or beat a guy into confessing, I'm saying to think like a Hardy," Phil answered. He gave the others a few minuets to think about what he had said before going on, "Look, we've all worked on Frank and Joe's cases. We all know how they operate and what to do. I'm not saying that it's easy and that we're as good as Frank and Joe, I'm saying that we owe it to them to try. Do you agree?"

There were a couple of minuets of silence while the others thought. Then Biff spoke up for all of them, "Where do we sign up?"

* * *

"Where's Frank?" Fenton asked as he entered the room finding Laura sitting next to Joe, who looked sound asleep.

"They took him into surgery a little while ago," she said irritated, "They feel he's stable enough. Where have you been?"

"Calling our families," Fenton replied. "Ezra doesn't know how, but the media's gotten hold of the story…they're calling it 'The Nightmare on Elm Street,'" Fenton replied, disgustedly, "In fact, if you want to watch it's on now." He ran a hand through his hair and, suddenly tired, added, "I thought I'd let the folks know before the morning paper told them."

Laura sighed, some her irritation with her husband replaced with her irritation for the press, "Damn vultures…" she mumbled.

"How's he doing?" Fenton asked coming to sit on the bed now vacated by Frank.

"Joe? He's sore, scared, and worried out of his mind about Frank."

Fenton ran a hand through his hair again. "I can't blame him," Fenton sighed, "Hell I'm going to have nightmares to last a life time and I wasn't even the target…"

A silence filled the room as Laura played with Joe's hair and Fenton watched his family. The worst part about everything for him was not being able to do anything. If his boys had been kidnapped, then he could be looking for them. If they were taken as hostages, then he could be negotiating; but this…all he could do was wait.

"Fenton, what if they have to amputate his hand?" Laura asked suddenly, a controlled tremor in her voice.

"They won't have to Laura," Fenton reassured.

"You heard what the doctor said…the damage may be to server for the hand to be saved. And you saw it…you saw what they did to him," Laura continued.

Fenton gave an involuntary shutter. Yes, he had seen the x-rays and the wound to Frank's hand.

"_Repeated blows with a blunt object on a hard surface…multiple fractures and breaks…blood flow cut off from some places…multiple surgeries…" _

Yes, Fenton knew how bad it was. "They're not going to cut off his hand."

"I don't even think he's stable enough for the operation, but they said if we waited that he could lose his hand…"

"It's going to be alright Laura, you'll see, Frank's going to be fine. He's going to come out of that operating room alive and intact," Fenton said in a no argument tone of voice that lapsed the room into silence once again.

"When is Joe's surgery?" Fenton asked after a while.

"Early in the morning. The swelling's gone down faster they first thought. A good sign," Laura replied.

"How long has he been asleep?" Fenton asked, "Do we still have to wake him up every hour from the concussion?"

"Yes, but I did that a few minuets before you came in, we have awhile. Just let him sleep."

But unknown to the parent's, their son was wide awake, and very aware of what was being said. It was a wonder he could hide the tears that were trailing down his face.

* * *

"Back door!" Carry yelled, but Con was already moving.

"Hold him there, I'll get him!" Con shouted as he rounded the corner of the trailer. He could see a young male disappearing into a line of trees. The boy was tall and slim with dirty blond hair and dressed in black. He relayed this information to any officers in the area as he reached the tree line.

Con was in time to see the boy disappear into a gully, and reluctantly he followed He didn't know how long he ran, or how far when the boy finally tripped over some roots and fell. "Josh Whelms, I have my gun drawn, stay right there and don't move!" Con barked as he approached the boy, "you're under arrest for suspicion of breaking and entering and assault, as well as avoiding arrest."

Josh looked up at the officer with shocked and clueless eyes, "What you talking about? I didn't hurt no one!" he asked a little franticly.

"You have the right to be silent," Con continued unmoved by the statement, he'd heard it before. "Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to a lawyer…"

"I didn't hurt no body!" Josh said now irritated.

"Stay down," Con barked, now almost over top the boy, "You have the right to a lawyer, if you can't afford one, the court will give you one and you have the right to have him there during questioning," now Con had cuffed him and pulled Josh to his feet. The boy instantly began to struggle and Con gave him a little shake as a warning.

"Who did I hurt?" Josh snapped, "If I'm suppose to have hurt someone I should know who."

"Do you understand your rights?" Con asked, a snarl to his voice.

"Yeah, and my rights says I can demand to see the evidence against me, so who is it that I'm suppose to have hurt?"

"Great, the prick knows his rights," Con mumbled loud enough for Josh to hear.

"I'm no prick," Josh growled, "What you got on me?"

"Frank and Joe Hardy were attacked last night, and everyone we've talked to said you're good for it."

Josh's jaw dropped in shock.


	17. Chapter 17

Soooooo...how long has it been since i updated this one? Hehe, sorry, the good news is that it's getting closer to the end and this is a long chap...so enjoy.

* * *

Tony couldn't concentrate on what he was doing. For the last five minuets he had been staring at the dishes in the sink and he couldn't figure out what he was suppose to do with them. His mind was on other things.

'Who would torture Frank and Joe? Why would anyone torture them?' he kept asking himself over and over again. Sure there were people who wanted to see the Hardy's dead, hell the line went around the world at least twice, but he never thought that any of them would torture them.

"It's no use!" he declared as he frowned at the pile of dishes he had yet to figure out what o do with. He resided to give up and ask Carry for the rest of the day off so he could talk to Sam then go home and take his frustration out on his punching bag. Now the only thing left to do was find his manager.

It was Carry's break and she usually spent it in the back alley smoking or on the phone, so that's where he headed. As soon as he reached the alleyway exit, he could tell Carry was on her phone, and by he sound of it having a fight with whoever she was talking to.

"But Bobby I didn't…no I swear! …I don't know how…Oh god, no Bobby I didn't mean to! Please Bobby don't say that….I promise no ones been asking! …Oh god! Bobby I'm sorry…No, I don't want to…please can't we just…but….that's not true, I do…alright, I'll meet you there…ten thirty, understood…love you too, bye."

After she hung up the phone, Carry slumped seemingly deflated and Tony wasn't so preoccupied that he didn't notice. "Everything alright Carry?" he asked her softly, so he wouldn't startle her. It didn't work and the red head spun around looking like a deer caught in the head lights until she realized it was Just Tony.

"What do you want Tony?" she asked, a little more irritated then she intended.

"I'm sorry Carry, I didn't mean to over hear you; it's just that I need to ask a favor…"

Carry sighed and rubbed her temples, "No, no, it's alright…I shouldn't snap at you…it's just…."

"It's just boys suck?" Tony asked with a slight smile.

"How'd you know?" Carry asked, relaxing slightly.

"You said Bobby a couple of times…you mean Bobby Rose don't you?" Tony asked casually. He knew Robby from school well enough, though he didn't really like him. There was just something about Robby that didn't feel right even though there was no real reason for his suspicions.

"Yeah, we've been dating for a few years now. He's good guy, except every now and then he's a control freak. When he gets like that it's just easier to let him win, ya know?"

Tony nodded, yeah he knew; he knew an abusive relationship when he saw one. "How'd you guys meet? I mean you go to East Bayport High, don't you?"

"Yeah, I graduate this year with honors," she said a bit defensively, East Bayport wasn't known to be a 'good' school. Tony shrugged, keeping his expression neutral so she went on. "My best friend is Sam Whelms, you may know her brother Josh. Josh got expelled from the East and sent over to Bayport, because of that program you all have?"

Tony nodded, he knew about the program. He had been part of the student group that had started it. He, Frank, Phil, Callie, and several others had organized a kind of intervention program for the school it's purpose was to give behavioral problems one last chance before they got shipped off to Juvi. So far it was doing so well that kids were now being sent here from other schools.

"Anyways, Sam dates a guy named Eric Rose who happens to be Bobby's cousin, and that's how we met. I was at a party and so was Eric. And that was that…" Carry said with a wistful look.

"So you guys have been dating for three years? Does he always make you upset? I mean, it sounded like he was really reaming you about something," Tony asked.

"No…I did something stupid and he was calling me on it. It's my fault and he's right. He's always right. You needed something?" she asked changing the subject.

"Yeah, I need to ask for the rest of the day off."

"Why, are you sick?"

"No, no, nothing like that…it's just…last night someone attacked two of my friends, Frank and Joe Hardy."

"Oh, I'm sorry, how are they?"

Tony looked at Cary a little lopsidedly. There was something wired about the tone of her voice when she had asked that. Something that didn't fit, but he couldn't figure out what. He couldn't name it. So he just put it down to her just being upset. "They're in the hospital, it's pretty serious. A detective's going to stop by in a few minuets since we're all here. After I talk to him I just kind of want to go home and see my brother and sister."

"Sure, I understand."

"Thanks Carry. I'll do a double next Saturday, how 'bout that?"

"Don't worry about," Carry said. "I owe you anyways."

That being said, Carry got up and walked back inside leaving Tony a little bit baffled. It wouldn't be later until he realized the tone that he heard in Carry's voice was consisted mostly of two emotions; a little guilt and a lot of wicked delight.

* * *

Josh sat in the interview room, completely unimpressed with everything, or so it seemed. Inside though, he was really a whirlwind of emotions, the main ones fear, confusion and revulsion. 

Carry and Con sat in front of him, both already defining their roles as good cop and bad cop. Con had opted for the stony, grim set bad cop, while Carry had opted for the motherly good cop.

"How you doing Josh? You need anything?" she asked as she and Con flipped through some files.

"Yeah, I want to get out of here. I didn't do nothing," the teenager snapped.

"Why'd you run?!" Con snapped.

"'Cause you're cops," Josh shot back.

"Or is it because you spent a couple of hours carving up Frank Hardy and his younger brother Joe?" Con replied as he tossed several pictures across the table at Josh.

The pictures were a combination of Crime Scene photos and Victim photos and were enough to make Josh sick. "I didn't do this…" Josh said, losing some of his nerve, "I wouldn't hurt Frank."

"Really, 'cause we got witnesses to say otherwise!" Con snapped.

"Easy there partner," Carry warned. "He's a minor, we still have to get a hold of his parents." She then turned to Josh and gave him a soft smile, "How's school Josh?"

"It sucks," was the reply.

"Yeah, I've heard you have it rough. You're in the 'Second Chance Program,' right? Transferred there halfway through the year."

"Why do you care?"

"I'm just making small talk…" Carry said, her expression remaining friendly.

"Yeah, well make small talk with something other then my life," was the snapped reply as a uniformed officer entered the room and whispered something into Con's ear.

"Thanks Murphy," he said with a smile, then set his eyes on the teenager in front of him. "It seems that your parents won't be coming to bail you out or to sit here with you. And they have given us permission to interview you without them being present. Isn't that lovely?"

"Go to hell," Josh snapped at the detective, starting to get that trapped feeling he normally got when an adult had power over him.

"Frank and Joe Hardy were attacked in their home," Con said, ignoring the boy's outburst. "Frank was attacked first, he was tied up and tortured for God knows how long. See, we have no idea when the suspect arrived because Frank had been comatose since he was found by his father this morning! We do know, however, that Frank was the target, he was the main victim and that Joe just happened to walk in on it. What you do Josh, lose track of time?!"

"Josh, Frank was the main target, and we have people saying that you threaten to kill him, one of them his girlfriend. Frank was also strangled, weren't you expelled for strangling a teacher?" Carry added.

"I didn't strangle him!? Josh snapped, "That bustard was asking for it! He should have kept his damn mouth shut! Ad I didn't hurt Frank! I wouldn't hurt Frank! He's one of the only goddamn people who's stood up for me!"

"Then why'd you threaten to kill him?! Because he turned you in for cheating?!" Con replied.

"What?! No! That's not what happened! I wasn't cheating and he knew it, but he had to turn me in anyways. I was angry, I didn't know what I was saying, I apologized to him afterwards, you can ask his brother and his friend, the nerd…Phil!" Josh said.

"Let me guess, you were framed? The whole world is against you?" Con pushed.

"No! It was an accident, Bobby's the aid for one of my teachers, he just slipped the test answers into my stuff by mistake, that was it! I was given a different test to take and that was the end of it! Frank made sure of it! Why would I hurt him?!" Josh yelled.

"Why'd you hurt your teacher?" Con growled.

"Because he called me a fagot," Josh said, his voice so chocked by anger it was hard to hear him.

"Josh, what happened last night?" Carry asked after a few moments.

"Last night?" Josh asked, "wait a minuet they were attacked last night? What time last night?"

"Sometime between seven and twelve…" Con answered.

"Then it couldn't have been me, I wasn't anywhere near North Bayport last night," Josh said with a sigh of relief.

"Where were you?" Carry asked.

"I was with…" Josh hesitated then, his face flushing as he looked down at his hands, "I was with my boyfriend last night at Emerson Park Apartments. His parents were out of town…"

"I don't believe you," Con hissed, again irritating Josh.

"Take my fingerprints, my DNA, call him for Christ's sake! I was with my boyfriend last night and the night before that! I didn't do it!"

"You can be sure that we will," was Con's reply, but it was a hollowed threat. He believed him.


	18. With A Little Help From Friends

_**With a Little Help From Friends**_

Tony gave a tired sigh as he returned to his seat by his friends. They didn't notice though because the TV was playing a news story on the Hardys and soon even Tony was absorbed in it. The report described everything that was fact and a little fiction as she stood outside the Hardy home that had several officers moving in and out of it still. Apparently the Bayport Police Department was on clean up detail.

As the newscast concluded the friends felt disgust growing in them and Phil snorted. "Nightmare on Elm Street my ass. What gives them the right to turn this into a circus?"

"Ratings," came the tired reply, startling the teens. "Hey guys," Sam said with a grim smile on his face as he pulled a chair up to the table. "How you all holding up?"

"We're here," Callie said with a sigh.

There was an awkward silence that settled until Sam finally figured out what he was going to say. "Look, I know that you guys don't think you know anything, and we already have a time line I just need to know if any of you noticed someone yesterday. If somebody stood out, or even this past week. Did somebody seem to always be around, always there?"

Chet was the first to speak, "They're always people around. I mean Bobby Rose kept needing to see Frank, but that was because of the things with Josh Whelms. And his cousin, Eric, usually follows him around, but I didn't see him yesterday or Friday."

"Chet's right, I haven't seen anyone near Frank or Joe who shouldn't be," Vanessa confirmed.

"And that whole thing with Josh got straightened out, I mean Josh apologized to Frank for threatening him and it was all taken care of," Phil added and upon seeing the confused look on Sam's face explained the whole situation to him.

"Yeah, I can kind of see how that would make him a suspect," Sam said as he took notes. "Callie, Tony, you both have been quite…."

"I was just thinking, Tony you were with Frank and I when that girl bumped into us and started the fight?" Callie said.

"Yeah, yeah I was. She snapped at you for spilling her drink and Frank offered to buy her a new one."

"And then we kept seeing her through out the rest of the day. She didn't say anything to us, and wasn't really fallowing us…but I mean when ever she was around it was like she was watching us and I knew I had seen her before but I couldn't figure out where," Callie finished.

"You're right! That was bothering us all day! I remember, and I think I know who it was, hang on I'll be right back," Tony disappeared into the back room and returned with a picture in his hand. "We have a board in the break room where we hang pictures of party's and stuff here. This one was a celebration for the Second Chance Program at school, there she is." He was pointing to a girl who was seated next to Eric Rose, Carry and Bobby with long brown hair and a thin build, "Her name's Sam Whelms and she's Eric's girl friend," Tony concluded.

Callie leaned into get a closer look at the girl, and confirmed what Tony said, "Yeah, she comes to pick up Josh a lot, he's her younger bother."

Sam nodded as he wrote down what the kids had told them, "That's good, that's real good. Now I have one more question for you guys, alright?" The youths nodded.

"Good, now I have this theory that Frank was the target, for whatever reason. You see while there was a lot of destruction on the lower levels of the house, there was nothing upstairs. The only thing out of the ordinary was a couple of blood drops. Now here's what I think, I think that Frank didn't just have a random migraine; I think it was all planed. I think that he was given bad medicine followed and the people who were responsible set him up. Here's my proof, I had the lab check his medication and it came back as Zyrtec not Claritin. What I need to know is have any of you noticed Frank acting different? Has his nose been bleeding or his headaches been worse?"

"Yes," Callie said without needing to think about it. "He's been getting more and more headaches for the last three weeks. His nose started to bleed again this week; he thought that the Claritin wasn't working."

Again Sam wrote down what he learned, when he was done he stared at his notes, puzzled. He was about to ask something else when his phone went off.

"Radly…hey Con. That's good….oh I see. But it was her car so you're going to talk to her?... Uh huh, I see…but Joe said there were only three and she doesn't fit the description of the girl, does she?... I understand. Alright…yeah I'm finishing up here…did you talk to Larry?...Good, I'll be there," Sam hung up and looked at the teens gathered who were all silently pressing him for information.

With a reluctant sigh he relayed the conversation, "A car that was spotted outside the house last night lead us to the Whelms, Callie's statement lead us to Josh but Josh had an alibi for the night. Now Con is going to go talk to his sister, the only problem is that Sam fits none of the descriptions Joe gave the police department and there are only three suspects. For now though, I need to get back to the police station and check in. Thanks for your help guys and I'll be in contact if we need anything else," Sam finished as he stood and left.

The kids sat in silence for a few moments before Phil spoke up, "There's only one way for Frank's medication to get switched and that's at the pharmacy. I think that's were we should start."

There were murmurs of agreement.


	19. Chapter 19

Monday was a grim day for Bayport High. News of what had happened had spread and rumors were flying; everything from satanic cults to Frank and Joe killing each other was being told as the 'true story'. The entire day the people who knew them best had to dismiss questions and rumors leaving the teens quite drained and irritable.

Phil was waiting by his car when Callie showed up, her face red with furry. "I hate Sarah Ross!" she exclaimed as she slammed her books into Phil's backseat.

"What happened?" Phil asked, not sure he really wanted to know. All day long he had been answering questions like 'Were they taken by a vampire cult?' or 'Did Frank really have his dick cut off? Or was it Joe?' That one was asked by a smart ass prick who had declared himself the school's bully, and had been yelled loudly in the middle of the lunch room. Thankfully though, member's of the football team (which both Frank and Joe were key player's on) were there to set him straight and Phil didn't have to do anything.

"She wanted to know if it was good," Callie spat out.

"What?" Phil asked confused.

"She wanted to know if it was true that the sex Frank and I had, was so good that we lost control and how my dominatrix fix was doing. Oh, and I quote, "I can understand how you could kill off Frank, after all if I had a puppy dog following me around like him I'd shoot it too, but did you have to move on to Joe? Where's your self control?""

Phil wasn't exactly sure if he could control his temper. To say he was pissed would be a major understatement. It took him several minuets to calm down enough to ask his next question, "What did you do?"

"I slugged her, right in the face and of course the drama queen went running to the nearest teacher to complain."

"What happened?" Phil said with a devilish laugh.

"The nearest teacher was Mrs. Jenny, and she had heard everything that Sarah said. Her response was, "You're lucky she only hit you once." Man this day has just sucked."

Phil nodded and the two fell silent for a few moments until Phil figured out what he wanted to say, "Vanessa, Chet, and Biff are on their way to the hospital to see Frank and Joe and talk to them. I just can't bring myself to go yet."

Callie nodded; she didn't think she'd be able to handle seeing Frank in the hospital as badly hurt as she'd been told he was.

"And Tony is going to work today to talk to Carry and find out more about Sam Whelms. I was thinking you and I could go to the pharmacy and talk to the people there."

"Sounds good, except aren't the police doing the same thing? And will we be tripping over them?" Callie asked.

Phil shrugged, "It's like Frank always tells me, people are more likely to let their guard slip in front of teens. They don't see them as a threat or smart enough to figure things out. We might be able to get things from people that the police can't. And the police can't stop us from going to public places or our jobs."

Callie smiled and nodded her head, "You and Frank are sooo much a like, it's scary."

Phil gave her a gleaming smile as he opened the door to his car, "Didn't you know; we're identical twins separated at birth."

"Identical twins? Is that why Frank is two feet taller and has brown hair as appose to blondish?"


	20. Chapter 20

"I hate hospitals," mumble Vanessa as she made her way up to Joe's floor.

Vanessa was on her way to meet Mrs. Hardy first who would then take them to see Joe. Vanessa had called ahead and been informed that Frank, though now conscious, wasn't able to see visitors and Joe could only handle one person at a time and not for very long. Not only was he not well enough to, but they were going to prep him for surgery soon and the less excited he was, the better. After much deliberation, Chet and Biff had both agreed to let Vanessa be the one to go talk to Joe and so there she was.

When the elevator doors opened and Mrs. Hardy cam onto view Vanessa forced as pleasant a smile as she could on her face and in a soft voice said, "Hello Mrs. Hardy, how you doing?"

The older woman pulled Vanessa into a gently hug briefly and heaved a soft sigh, "It's been a long forty eight hours."

"I can image," Vanessa agreed, "How are they?"

"Joe's doing alright. He's shaken and frantic about Frank. He's face is very swollen and he looks bad, really bad, but he's doing much better then yesterday," Laura said, more to prepare Vanessa then anything else. When she saw the youth pale a bit and nodded, she knew that she understood and moved on, "Frank got the worst of it. He was alone with them the longest…he's really sick. He's getting better…I mean at least he's awake now…but they're still unsure if he's going to make it. Infection is the biggest threat currently."

Vanessa took a deep breath and let it out slowly. In her head she had pictured the brothers hurt and with her vivid imagination she thought she had done a pretty good job. But listening to their mother describing their injuries made her unsure if she could handle this.

"You ready?" Mrs. Hardy asked as they neared Joe's room.

"No, but I'll try," was the only honest answer she could give. Vanessa felt a strong arm wrap around her shoulders and found herself very grateful for the support.

"Mrs. Hardy?" a young uniformed officer asked as he saw the two approached.

"It's alright Mathew, Vanessa is a friend." The young man gave a curt nod and moved out of the way of the pair. Mrs. Hardy released her hold on Vanessa and told her, "I'll wait out here, just leave the door cracked slightly."

Vanessa nodded and with a deep breath entered the room. She was expecting Joe to be asleep or something similar; instead he was lounging reading some car magazine that his father must have gotten him. "Hey handsome," she said softly as she approached.

Joe moved his head slowly to see who was speaking, and he gave a small half smile when he saw his girl friend. Reaching for the white board that lay next to him, Joe scribbled a greeting and handed it to Vanessa.

_What are you doing here?_

"I don't know Joe, what reason would I have to be here?" she teased him as she took the empty seat next to his bed. She was finding it a bit hard to stand staring at Joe's battered body. How any human could do this to someone was beyond her understanding.

_I mean, how'd you get pass the guard dog at the door?_

Vanessa smiled, "I flashed him," she said sincerely.

Joe's eyes widened in humor. _You'd do it, wouldn't you?_

Vanessa laughed, a chipper sound that seemed to help break the gloominess of the room. "Probably, but your mom let me in. She sounded really relived when I told her that I was coming, I think she was tired of trying to cheer you up."

_They won't tell me anything about Frank except he's awake. But that doesn't mean anything._

"I know baby, I know. But right now you've got to focus on yourself. Alright?"

Joe gave her a slight glare. _He saved me!_

Vanessa stared at that simple statement, a cold grip at her heart. She meet Joe's eyes to see the well of tears there and the gold grip tightened. "He's going to be fine Joe. He's going to pull through," she said with conviction, hoping it was enough to convince him.

Joe gave heavy sigh that sent weak spikes of pain through his body. Ever since the morphine had worn off, Joe had refused any kind of pain killer except aspirin, hens the reason he was now writing everything down instead of speaking. Now every movement had to be slow or it became too painful for him to do. But no amount of physical pain could compete with his emotions and he was grateful to finally get the chance to express at least some of that.

"Joe, I know you're worried about Frank, we all are. Hell, when we found out, everyone of us wanted to rush down here and see you both. In fact Chet and Biff are waiting outside still pissed at me for pulling the girlfriend clause. And while I'm so glad to see you, and so glad that I can talk to you, it's not the only reason why I'm here."

Joe looked at her cock eyed for a moment; _what are you all up too?_

"Phil, Callie, Chet, Biff, Tony and I are going to try and help the _investigation_ a bit," Vanessa answered in a quiet voice.

_No. No. No. No. No._

"Joe…."

_Vanessa! You see what they did to me and you think it's bad! He burned Frank! He poured lighter fluid on Frank's back and then set it on fire! NO!!_

Vanessa forced his shudder inward at the mental image but she was persistent, "We're not going after them, not like you and Frank do. That would be plain stupid. What we are doing is going to talk to people, to see what we can learn from them that the police can't and then give the information to Sam or Con. That's it Joe, I promise. Besides, you and Frank are always saying that people suspect less from teenagers and thus will open up more."

There was a few minuets of stillness as the two squared off. Finally, though, Joe gave in. _Just swear that you'll be careful. Please swear. They're dangerous; hell they're insane._

"We will Joe. I swear we will."

_What do you need from me?_


	21. Chapter 21

Fenton watched his son breath. He would never have thought that there was anything more awe inspiring then watching a person take a breath of air; that was until today. Just yesterday he was forcing air into his son's lungs, forcing him to breathe, to stay alive. Just last night a machine was keeping his air way open. Now he was breathing on his own. Sure it was a raspy breath and at times a little of a struggle, but he was breathing. And that was all that mattered.

Frank had been out of surgery since early morning. While there had been no complications, some recent test had shown that Frank did indeed have some internal bleeding so they had decided to extend the sugary. Because of that, Joe's sugary had been pushed back to this evening and soon Fenton would have to leave his eldest side to go and reassure Joe.

With a sigh, Fenton leaned in closer to Frank and took his un-bandaged left hand in his. Gently he rubbed his thumb over the knuckles, like he'd done so many times before when one of his boys were sick or hurt. He examined his son as only a father could, taking in every burse, every cut, and every injury. And with each new observation he felt his anger grow, and his helplessness to act only helped it to grow.

With another sigh Fenton ran a hand through his hair before resting his head on the side of the hospital bed. How long had it been since he last slept? He didn't want to think about it. How much time passed, he didn't know, what he did know was that his son had groaned.

"Frank?" Fenton said in his best stern father's voice. "Franklin Hardy."

There was another moan and Frank started to fidget and his eyes started to flitter.

"Franklin Hardy it's time to get up. You have a lot of work to do and you've over slept," Fenton continued on in his stern voice, though he really wanted to cry he was so excited.

"Daaa….aadd?" the work was so soft and gargled, so forced and distorted that Fenton had to think twice before he understood it.

"I'm here son….right here…." With out moving from his spot Fenton hit the call button to summon a nurse. Frank's eyes fluttered open to just slits and he sought out his father.

"Ja…o…ooo…" again, the word was painful and hard to hear but Fenton understood instantly.

"He's fine, in fact he's better then you. You had to have a surgery, that's why you're in different rooms. Joe's fine Frank. You're both safe now. It's all over. How do you feel?"

"Wa…ter…"

Fenton smiled and nodded, he reached behind him to fill a glass with the pitcher that had been placed there for the Hardy's use and then held the glass for his son. Frank took three long sips grateful for the feel of the cool liquid.

"Frank, when you're ready, I need you to tell me what happened son. I need to know what the three bastards did…" Fenton warned Frank, but his sentence went unfinished as he caught the look on his son's face, "What's wrong?"

"There…were…four…" Frank said, his voice still raspy but clear enough for the words to make Fenton's blood run cold. But before the father could ask another question, Dr. Casey entered the room.

"Well, look at those pretty brown eyes!" she said with a smile, "And here I thought they'd gone on vacation for the summer."

Frank gave her a sleepy smile, "Hi…."

"While it's always good to hear your voice Frank, take it easy. You just had a breathing tube removed from this morning, don't rush it. Let's just see how you're holding up shall we?" As Casey prepared to begin her examination he turned to Fenton and said, "Why don't you go tell Laura and Joe the good news? I'm sure they could both use it."

Reluctantly Fenton agreed and soon excused himself to find his wife and youngest.

* * *

Vanessa was glad to be out of there. She stood for a moment in the warm sun and let the fresh, clear air play with her hair. She let the warmth of the day dry the tears that threatened to fall and felt herself relax slightly.

She had just spent the last hour with Joe, waiting as he wrote out, in great detail, what had happened to the brothers. She had no doubt that it was therapeutic to Joe; Finally allowing him to express freely what happened and not feeling like he had to give a detached, formal, version of the attack; but it was a nightmare for Vanessa.

Even now, in the warmth of the early summer's evening, a bone chilling shudder ran through her as she reread the passages depicting the boy's torture and Frank's attempted murder;

'_They lead me into the kitchen where a guy, about five eight, maybe taller, lean build (like a runner), and dressed completely in black with gloves and a mask was torturing Frank. They'd stripped him from his waist up and he was covered in cuts, burns and bruises. They had him tied eagle spread to the kitchen island and they'd blindfolded and gagged him. I don't know how long they'd been there, but I could tell that it was awhile because even kneeling Frank couldn't support his own weight.……The guy, the one in charge, he licked Franks neck then tore into him and started to suck the blood…it looked like rape…'_

'_They forced me to sit in one of the dining room chairs and they took Frank's blind fold off and used it to gag me. I could taste Frank's blood… The guy who was torturing Frank began to circle me. I felt like a mouse being stalked by an eagle, like he had me in his sights and I had no place to hide. A moment later he ripped a section of skin from my neck and started sucking…if it wasn't for Frank I would have lost it right there and then…After the guy got stopped beating me, the girl straddled me and cut off my shirt. She cut me a few times with the knife I think before she stabbed it into my leg and started to twist…'_

'_As they were torturing me, I heard Frank begging…he was asking the guy to leave me alone, he was begging for me…They stopped and put me back in the chair and I had to watch as the guy forced Frank to kiss him…when the girl returned she had a vile of lighter fluid with her. He made me watch as he poured it on Frank's back and then lit him on fire…'_

'_They let him burn for a moment, then put the fire out. Frank crumbled like a rag doll…the guy cradled him, like you would a baby, and he strangled Frank…I thought he was dead…I laid there staring at Frank all night and he never moved, I couldn't tell if he was breathing…I thought he was dead….'_

Vanessa again fought back the tears and quickly made her way to where she could see Biff and Chet. When she got closer, she noticed that the two had made a food run and were munching away on burritos. "I see you two got board," she said with a tired and very strained smile.

Chet smiled at her warmly, "We got you something too," he said racing into the car and pulling out a bag.

Vanessa took the bag from Chet and numbingly noted that the restaurant was one of Joe's favorite places to eat. After the last hour she had, that thought alone was enough to set her off and she leaned into Biff sobbing.

"Hey…hey…hey, it's alright…" Biff said, looking confusedly at Chet while at the same time engulfing her in a brotherly hug.

Chet and Biff both stood there kind of awkwardly waiting until Vanessa regained control. They had no idea what to say or do, because they had no idea what had set her off. All they could do was form a kind of protective barrier around her until she was ready to talk. Luckily for them, they didn't have to wait to long.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" she said as she pulled away from Biff to lean against the car, "I just hate this!"

"Hate what?" Biff asked, "Joe and Frank?"

Vanessa nodded and handed him the pad Joe had used to write his story on. Almost reluctantly Biff took it and he and Chet began to read.

* * *

"You know, we may want to see the crime scene…" Callie said absentmindedly as she and Phil entered the Hardy's pharmacy, a small mom and pop's drug store with in walking distance of the Hardy home.

Phil looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "How are we suppose to do that?"

"We could clean it for them, so that Mr. and Mrs. Hardy don't have to worry about it…." Callie said simply.

"True…Come on, there's Mr. Ganger," Phil said as he headed over to an elderly looking man. "Mr. Ganger!"

The man looked up startled from where he had obviously been sleeping and gave a warm smile when he saw the two. "Hello Phil and Ms. Shaw. I heard about Frank and Joe, how are you two holding up?"

Callie smiled, that's what she loved about Mr. Ganger, he never assumed that you knew about how other people were and only assumed you knew how you were. That and he always gave her free ice-cream when she was younger. "It's been a rough day, but we're getting on."

"Yeah…it's a bad turn of events…what can I get you two? Same old ice-cream Sunday's?"

"No, not today Mr. Ganger, thank you," Phil said, "We're actually planning on helping Mr. and Mrs. Hardy out by cleaning up the house a little and picking up a few things for them."

"Oh, ain't that good of you? Well if you wait here I'll get you Mrs. Hardy's tea and some of the snakes she gets for the boys."

"Thank you," Phil said as the elderly man disappeared. Something behind the corner caught his eye and he focused his attention on it. It was a picture of Bobby Rose with the caption 'employ of the month' under it. Phil had just enough time to point it out to Callie before Mr. Ganger.

"There you are, and don't worry about the price, "Mr. Ganger said putting several bags down in front of the two, "It's on the house."

"Mr. Ganger, are you looking to hire anyone?" Phil asked, going with what his instincts were telling him.

"Oh Lordy no, I've got my hands full with the ten I have. Feels like I'm baby sitting more then bossing. Huh, they should be paying me."

"Well at least Bobby seems to do alright," Phil said point to the picture.

Ganger looked and shrugged, "When he's here. That boy has the mind to keep his own hours…course he does work hard."

"Dose he work Saturdays, cause I don't have a lot to do in the evenings, I mean I could fill in for him.?" Phil asked causally.

"That's nice of you Phil, and I'll keep it in mind. 'Specially after this last Saturday."

"Why, what happened?" Callie asked catching on with Phil's plan.

"Well, Bobby, and I don't want you kids spreading this around or nothing, but Bobby showed up and was acting all nervous like until about, I don't know seven thirty maybe. Then he got a call and high tailed it out of here, a whole hour early. It was strange."

"That is strange…" Phil agreed, the wheels in his head turning, "Well thank you Mr. Ganger and we'll see you around."

"Yup, take care now."

And with that the three parted company.

Outside in the parking lot Callie and Phil went to work. While Phil called the other's and told them to met Callie and him at the Hardy's, Callie called Mrs. Hardy to explain that they wanted to help. It took some persuasion, but finally the girl convinced Mrs. Hardy to let the teenagers clean the house under the guise, "We just feel so helpless not being able to do anything."

When the conversation ended, Callie let off a sincere cheer of joy and started to laugh and cry at the same time.

"What is it?" Phil asked, a little freaked by this sudden change in Callie.

"Frank's awake! He's awake !"


	22. Chapter 22

Con and Carry sat in Ezra's office going over what they'd learn so far. It wasn't much.

So far their only suspect had an alibi, the only evidence thy had lead in the wrong direction and they had used up their leads. Larry's lab guys had found that Frank's medication had indeed been swapped and the blood in the upstairs hallway was his. So far Sam's theory was seemingly more and more possible and they had stopped looking threw Fenton's case files and focused their search on the criminals that Frank and Joe had put away.

"I can't think of anything chief. I hate to say it, but I'm stuck," Con said bitterly.

"What about this Samantha Whelms? She said the truck was her brothers, could she have lied?"

"I doubt it. Se's a good kid, not the type who'd do something like this. Besides, there was only one female suspect and she doesn't fit the description."

Ezra sighed and rubbed his temples, the case which had offered an abundance of evidence had dammed up on the leads. He didn't want to admit it, but he was just as stumped as Con. The only remotely productive thing he had done after going home that evening was spending the night watching his grand daughter sleep while her mommy worked her EMS shift. With another sigh he looked over a Carry.

The new detective shrugged and put in her two cents, "I got off the phone with Jimmy, my eldest son. Both my kids go to school with Frank and Joe and well, I asked them to keep up on the gossip."

Ezra smiled, he had liked Carry from the moment he read her file and knew she would be an excellent addition to his squad. So far she was proving him right, and this was just one more example of how. "So what's going around the school?"

"Every theory under the sun. Did you know that we've arrested several members of Dracula's vampires and are dunking them in holy water currently to see if they confess?" she said with a fleeting smile.

Con couldn't suppress a laugh and Ezra found himself smiling when he answered, "No I didn't, but I'll look into it. I take all reports of abuse of power serious."

"Do you want me to call INS?" Con asked with a smirk.

Carry ignored them and went on, though with a smile, "Anyways, Jimmy being more chatty and out going then Dan found out quite a bit of info for me. Some of it I dismissed right away, but there are apparently a lot of the 'popular' kids who don't particularly like the Hardys. Enough to hurt them."

Ezra and Con's faces lost their humor and they both went serious, "Like who."

Carry pulled a sheet of paper from a pocket and read a few names, "The top of the list is a girl named Sarah Ross, Peter Goodman, and Mark Davis. Apparently Sarah Ross had wanted to add Frank to her…um, collection of triumphs…but he refused her point blank several times. She then tried to move on to Joe and Frank again stepped in, but this time with the threat of harassment charges. But apparently, once that blew over she decided to call Frank's bluff and they've been borderline harassing him since. According to Jimmy, Frank gave her an ultimatum that said simply, stop it or I stop it. The other two guys, they are her so called boyfriends and whoever she hates they hate. As an added bonus, Sarah has dark red hair that might look brown if you see her in the dark and hazel eyes that may appear brown at first."

An almost predatory smile lit up the chief's face, "I think you two have some interviews to do. I want you to pull them into the station though. I want to scare the shit out of them if their guilty, and if their not maybe they'll learn to lay off Frank.

Con's brown was frowned though. Yes he was excited that they had possible suspects, but there was something off about it. Something that he should know but couldn't remember. It had been a long, long day and he was tired and in need of a shower and rest so his mind was fuzzy. But still, he felt he needed to say something and just as he was about to the phone rang…

"Chief Collign…Fenton what's…oh thank God, that's the best news I've heard all day, thank God…How's he doing?...Do you think he'll be up to giving a statement…alright, yes, that'll be fine. I'll be there soon…thanks for calling."

As he hung up the phone the chief could barely curve his enthusiasm as he informed the others, "Frank's awake."

* * *

Joe refused to go into surgery without first seeing his brother. He just flat out refused. It wasn't that he didn't believe his father when he told him that Frank was alive, it was more that he just had to make sure, he had to know beyond any doubt. Even when it was pointed out that he wouldn't be able to speak to Frank and that it was quite possible that Frank was sleeping again, he still refused surgery. Finally, the doctors gave in, but on one condition, Joe would have to take the pre-op. drugs before he went to see his brother.

So that was how Joe Hardy found himself being wheeled into his brother's room, heart racing with anticipation. Frank looked terrible, but better then he had the last time he'd seen him. The tube had been removed, but he'd gained an IV; most likely pain meds. His color was some what better, instead of death pale he was sheet pale. But the wounds were still there, the bandages were still there, and the burns. They had removed Frank's top, leaving him in only pajama pants and covers, so that the fabric wouldn't irritated the burns or small sores and blisters forming on his skin any more then the bandages already did.

"You have five minuets Joe, or until Frank kicks you out. Whatever comes first," Dr. Casey teased as she pushed the wheelchair up to the bed then silently made her departure.

For a moment Joe didn't know what to do. Frank's eyes were closed, and he could see the lines etched into his brother's face from pain. The drugs had eased his aching jaw, but still Joe didn't trust himself to talk. He didn't trust his voice not to be strong or the words clear. Instead he put his hand lightly on Frank's left arm.

That one touch caused his brother's eyes to flutter open and, though it took a moment, brown eyes were soon focused on blue ones like they were the last good thing in the world. For a minute the two just stared at each other, making sure that this was real, they weren't dreaming, that this was really happening before the first traces of tears started to show in Frank's eyes.

Quickly Joe wrote on his note pad;

_I'm ok._

_Broken jaw._

_Going to fix it soon._

Frank read it a little slower then normal and a small smile of relief fluttered across his face and he said in a strained voice, "do they have to fix your jaw?"

Joe pretended to glared at his brother, but in truth he was relived. If Frank could make jokes it would be alright. This would all be alright. They both would be fine. They'd be ok…they wouldn't be hurt again….

"Hey, it's ok," Frank said as he used his good hand to give Joe's a slight squeeze. Joe nodded, regretted it, and shut his eyes. He couldn't stop the tears from falling, he just couldn't. All the fear, all the guilt, all the what ifs were to powerful and over whelming for him to even try.

Joe felt his brother's grip tighten and was grateful for the reminder that he wasn't alone. "I'm scared too," Frank whispered, "I'm scared too."

* * *

Tony had been working for nearly an hour before Carry walked in, flustered and wide eyed.

"Hey boss, what's wrong?" he asked as he followed her into the brake room. There were a total of eight patrons in the restaurant and nobody heading their way so Tony decided to take the opportunity to talk to Carry.

"Everything's wrong…everything…" she said, choking back tears, as she put her stuff into her locker.

"Anything I can do to help?"

"Take back all the stupid things I've done? Starting with giving into peer pressure?"

Tony didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing. He just waited for Carry to continue.

"A week before graduation and I have to do something so stupid…."

"Maybe it would help if you told me what you did?" Tony said trying to shake a thought out of his head. _Frank may not make it to graduation…Frank should be celebrating with the rest of us and he's in a hospital bed…._

Carry looked at Tony an oh shit moment clear as day on her face for an instant before she turned it into a blank look, "I'm sorry Tony. Here I am bitching about my life and you have problems of your own. How are Frank and Joe? I mean as badly burned as they are…" She stopped suddenly, and turned away from Tony.

Tony's eyes narrowed for an instant, _How does she know that? _"You're school got hit by the rumors too? Guess a lot of football players are happy. They're doing alright. I need to take off soon though. I'm going to help clean up the crime scene. All the blood…we don't think that Mr. and Mrs. Hardy should have to clean that up. I mean it's bad enough to come home and find your sons like that," Tony said, emphasizing cretin parts. He was playing off a hunch that Carry knew something.

She turned around and looked at Tony a bit surprised but was able to compose herself. "Is there someone to take your shift?"

Tony bit back a curse and sighed, "Yeah, Tim. He'll be here any minute."

Carry shrugged, "Remember to sign out when you leave," then she left the break room and a bewildered Tony.


	23. The Nightmare on Elm Street

**The Nightmare on Elm Street**

Frank may have been awake, but he defiantly wasn't looking good.

Ezra stood just inside the doorway, waiting for Fenton to stop fussing over her son and studied the boy he had watched grow up. There were lines on his face, around his eyes and mouth, telling Ezra that he was in a great deal of pain. His color was ash gray white and made the handsome youth look like an ashtray that needed to be cleaned. His good hand made a lose fist as he weakly clutched to the sheets. But he answered Fenton in a semi clear, if a little hoarse, voice, and he seemed coherent enough.

Once Fenton was satisfied with his evaluation of his son's condition he came back over to Ezra to report. "He's refusing pain medication until Joe gets out of surgery. He wants to be clear headed when we tell him how Joe is. He's losing his voice again so this will have to be as short as possible. And he's sick. Very sick. They're running blood work now testing for all sorts of things. Casey thinks there may be some kind of infection…."

Ezra felt his heart skip a beat and he looked over to Frank. "_An infection will kill him," _Casey had told them. _"His body's just been through too much to handle an infection."_

"Don't worry Fenton," Ezra assured, "I won't push him. We'll stop when he wants and we'll stop him even if he doesn't want to."

Fenton nodded, grateful for his friend's understanding, a small smile graced his face as he said, "You say that like it's possible, but have you ever tried to stop my boys from doing something they want to do?"

A smile also graced Ezra's lips at Fenton's comment and he responded, "Yeah, every time the want to solve a case."

Fenton nodded the smile lingering for a moment or two before turning towards his son and leading the chief over. "Frank?" he called softly, making sure his son was still awake, "The Chief's here."

Frank's eyes opened slowly and he attempted to smile, but it was more of a grimace, "Hi-a Chief," he said weakly, coughing a bit as he did.

"Boy is it good to hear your voice kiddo," Ezra said slumping down in a chair, not even bothering to mask his emotions. Frank would be able to tell anyway.

"What voice?" Frank joked weakly, "I'm ready to file a missing person's report for it."

Ezra chuckled, a feeling similar to Joe's overwhelming him. If Frank was making jokes then they could get through this. Things weren't so bad. But the feeling passed and soon he was in cop mode. "Frank, I need you to tell me everything that happened. Joe couldn't tell us much, he was in too much pain, so there's a lot of holes to be filled in." Getting to the point and being serious always worked best when Ezra questioned Frank.

Frank didn't nod, to afraid he'd tare open one of the many wounds on his neck to make any uncalculated movement, but his eyes showed that he understood and the familiar look of a detective came over him.

"We went out with some friends," he began slowly, trying not to strain his failing voice, "to see the fire works, but I got sick. My sinuses have been wreaking havoc on me lately and for whatever reason the medicine isn't working…."

"Sam played a hunch and had the pills checked out. They weren't your prescription," Ezra explained for the Hardy's.

Frank raised an eyebrow but stored the knowledge away for later and continued, "Well, Callie drove me home because I was losing my vision and she took care of me, made me take Excedrin."

Fenton had to laugh at this. Frank hated taking drugs, he hated depending on anything but himself and for some reason drugs got the brunt of his anger. So the idea that Callie had forced him to take them was humorous to him. His chuckle though earned him looks from both Ezra and Frank.

"Sorry," Fenton said, "It's just that I've seen you and Callie fight before and it's just like you're married. Picturing in my head what you said about Callie making you take the Excedrin…all I can imagine is that it's like your mom fussing at me to take care of myself."

Frank smiled at his father's explanation knowing all too well how true it was. Callie and he did fight like they were married.

Ezra also saw the humor in it, but he didn't want to get side track, so he pushed on; "What happened next Frank?"

Frank sighed and closed his eyes for a moment trying to remember where he left off before continuing;

"I hadn't noticed anyone following us or looking around the neighborhood or anything like that. But then again, I wasn't really paying attention. Callie made me some soup and tea and stayed with me 'til I called mom and dad. Once she was sure that I was taken care of she headed out. I went up to bed when a nose bleed woke me up at nine I think?

Anyways, I headed down stairs when I meet one of them half way. It was one of the guys, not the one in charge, the other one. He was tall, muscular, I'm pretty sure a wrestler cause that's how he took me down. He pinned me."

Frank paused here taking a moment to cough and try to clear his throat. Fenton quickly held a glass of water to Frank's lips and the teen drank eagerly.

"Thanks," he said once the cup was removed and Fenton just smiled, leaving Frank to pick up his story again, "He held a knife to my throat and dragged me to the kitchen where the others were. There were three others, one a brownish, red head I think with brown eyes. She was short, not thin but not fat either. I would say a healthy weight, maybe an athlete. The other girl was really thin and tall, kind of willowy. Her hair was dark, but I don't know if it was black or not. It might have been a dark brown. She was pale and nervous. And then you had their leader, the guy who did most of the…" Frank stumbled a little over his next word, "torturing. He was built like me. I think he was built like a biker or a runner.

He had them tie me to one of the chairs and used my shirt as the ropes. The gagged me and blindfolded me, all with out saying a word to each other. They were like bees…a hived mind or something."

"Or they had planned everything out to a 't'," Fenton commented.

Frank glanced over to his father and nodded slowly before continuing, "The leader started to…to… I don't know how to describe it, he ran his hand along my chest."

Ezra nodded, putting his emotions to the side, "How do you know who it was? How could you tell them apart?"

"The leader, the one who did most of the stacking was the only one wearing gloves. The short girl was the only one with a ring on, and the taller one was comfortable touching me so she never put her whole hand on my skin. The other guy, the one with the knife always gripped too hard."

Ezra nodded again, satisfied with the answers, "What happened next?"

"He started to torture me. He started with burning me then he'd stop. I heard things breaking in other rooms, then they'd come back. They'd beat me or cut me, or bite me, then leave. More things breaking, then they'd come back. That's basically how it went until Joe came home…."

"Do you remember what happened after they brought Joe in?" Ezra asked and hating himself for it. The look on Frank's face had changed from detective to scared kid through out his recount of events. It was clear to the seasoned police chief that Frank was fighting very, very hard not to lose grip on his emotions and the spurred him on to hurry up.

"Not much…" Frank said, his voice growing weaker. "I remember kind of blacking out and then hearing Joe scream and that woke me up. I remember that they stabbed him…but I was so out of it by then…."

The room was silent for awhile as Frank gave his voice a rest and Ezra and Fenton tried to take in what Frank was saying.

"Frankie," Fenton finally said, breaking the stillness. Frank slowly moved his gaze to look at his father, trying hard not to reawaken the hurts all over his body. Fenton moved closer to his son to make it easier for Frank to look at him, and to fro Fenton to study Frank's face. "Frankie, Joe told us that the guy who hurt you two forced you to kiss him…"

"He made me drink Joe's blood…" Frank confessed, eyes wide and a slight tremor to his voice.

Fenton nodded, his brown eyes filled with warmth, compassion, understanding and protection. "I know son, I know and I can't imagine what that was like. But was that all he did? Did he do anything else? Did he rape you, or touch you, or anything remotely close?"

Frank looked down and swallowed as he tried to school himself. But it was so damn hard to fight the emotions but he managed, he managed long enough to say, "I don't know."

Fenton gently, oh so ever gently hugged his son. Rarely had Frank ever lost his composure and it was a shock to see it now. But Fenton realized that with everything that Frank had been forced to endure the last forty eight hours, it was most likely all too much for him. So Fenton let him lean on his shoulder and let him cry until he was cried out and made a mental note to have Laura come and talk to him having faith in his wife's ability to comfort their children. He waited until Frank had stopped crying and had managed to steady himself before he continued on with his questions.

"Frank, if you want to stop we can," Ezra said and Fenton blessed him for it. But Frank shook his head and pulled away slightly from his father, face tight with pain.

"I'm ok," he said, and everyone knew it was a lie.

Fenton sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Currently he hated himself for so many things, at the top of the list was making Frank relive his nightmare. But if it could help them catch the guys who did this, if it could stop this from happening again, and help to heal his boys, it was worth it. Or so he told himself. "Frank, do you think that the raped you?" Fenton asked softly, again watching his son's reaction.

It took Frank a minute to think through everything. With all that had happened he hadn't really been able to processes it and was starting to become over whelmed. But his father's hand on his check helped to reassure him and to calm him and he leaned into the touch for a moment and closed his eyes.

After a moment, and still with his eyes closed, Frank said, "They started to, the guys. They untied me and slammed me to the floor. I was on my back and the knife guy was holding the blade to my throat while the leader started to kiss me, but one of the girls told him to stop. It was the first time that I'd heard one of them speak. I felt them get off me and they kicked me in the chest, knocking the wind out of me. I couldn't breathe for a moment and nearly blacked out. When my mind focused I could hear them fighting in the living room.

The girl, the one who had first spoken was whispering angrily at the others. I think she said something like, 'If you screw him it'll leave DNA…' I don't remember much about the conversation, just kind of…two of the voices sounded familiar but I couldn't place them. Still can't. I heard the door open and slam shut and only three of them came back into the kitchen. I felt the leader get on top of me again, but the last thing I really remember before Joe was getting knocked in the head again. I think I blacked out. When I came to I was tied to the kitchen island and they were still there. But that's all I can remember clearly."

Fenton swallowed his anger and again filled his eyes with compassion and protection as he made Frank look at him, "You did good son. I'm proud of you. You did really, really well. You're safe now, they can't get you while I'm here."

Frank's eyes filled with misery and fresh tears started to form, "I know that dad," he said, his voice coming strangled, "But I'm still so damn scared…."


	24. Chapter 24

It hadn't taken the teens long to gather at the Hardy home. Paul, Callie, Vanessa, Biff, Chet and Tony all sat on the front stoop catching each other up on what they knew. Paul informed them of his conversation with Mr. Ganger and Bobby Rose's suspicious behavior. Biff had somehow managed to read Joe's account of events out loud to everyone in a reasonably steady voice. And Tony had told of his suspicions of Carry.

"Sounds like we have some people to talk to," Vanessa said quietly after a minuet or two.

"Yeah, but first we have a crime scene to explore," Phil stated with a noticeable tremor. None of the youths wanted to go into that house.

"What could we possibly learn from it? I mean the cops have already picked it to pieces," Biff said almost hostile.

"We can learn what happened, where they were when they were attacked. What happened," Phil said, unsure of the answer.

"We already know what happened!" Biff snarled.

"Hey! If anything, we can at least get the place livable again for the Hardys. Do you want Mrs. Hardy to have to clean up that mess? Do you think Ms. Gertrude would be able to? Or Mr. Hardy? Do you want to leave it for Joe to do?" Callie hissed, eyes burning a whole into Biff.

The blond boy backed down and said nothing, he just looked at his feet ashamed.

"This sucks. This just flat out fucking sucks," Vanessa said several minuets latter.

"Yeah, seems we've being saying that a lot lately," Tony said.

"Come on, time's wasting," Chet said as he got up, "It may suck but we still have to deal with it."

…line break…

Con stared at the girl in the interrogation room. Carry was in there with her and her mother, and had been there for nearly an hour. The chief had called and informed Con on Frank's status and key points of his statement, like the fourth person, a girl that matched Sam Whelm's description. It was then that he remembered what had been bugging him the whole time, if Sarah Ross had been the mastermind she would have been the main one attacking the boys. But the girl, according to Joe, hadn't been in charge.

He was going to have to tell Carry that she had just wasted time interrogating the wrong person, but as he listened to the girl he'd thought he'd give Carry just a few more minuets.

"Frank Hardy's a fag, that's why he wont screw anyone," Sarah snapped at Carry.

"Sarah, watch your mouth!" her mother, an seemingly uptight 'prude' scolded harshly.

"Oh shut up bitch and stop pretending that you care," the girl snapped.

Carry was unphased and unimpressed, "You always talk to you mother like this? If you were my kid I'd have smacked the shit out of you."

Sarah smirked at her and just said, "Then I'd call Child Services."

"And I'd let you go to foster care. Wash my hands of you," Carry said, matching her smirk with a 'look' of her own. Carry managed to stare the teen down and felt a small bit of triumph as she saw the hardcore exterior rattle a little. "Now then, why don't you tell me what you know about what happened to Frank?"

"I don't know shit. I didn't go near the Hardy's Saturday. I have better things to do with my time then chase after losers."

"Losers? That's why you tried to get into their pants?"

"Please, I'm over that. There are so much better fucks then them out there."

"Sarah!" again, her mother's outraged and embarrassment was ignored.

"Really? Is that why you've been chasseing Frank like a bitch in heat?"

Sarah leaned in close to the detective, "Like I said Frank Hardy is a fag, he and his brother are probably screwing each other."

Before Carry could continue Con knocked on the door. A little frustrated, Carry stepped out. Once the door shut she said, "While I'd love to slap that smirk off her face, I don't think she had anything to do with this. She doesn't have the brains for it."

Con nodded, "I agree. The Chief called, there were four invaders. One of them a girl who matches Sam Whelm's description. We have to let her go, she's no longer a suspect."

Carry sighed, "Do we really have to let 'Miss. Ross' go, I mean can't we just kind of send her to juvi by 'accident.'"

Con gave a tired smile, "Nope, being a asshole isn't against the law. But you know what we could do is keep her in holding for awhile, you know. I mean officially she's still a suspect."

…line break…

Fenton left his son's room leaving Frank in the care of Laura. Ezra had left a few minuets earlier and Fenton wanted to go ask Casey about how Joe's surgery was going and what she had learned about Frank's condition. He found the doctor in her office, doing the normal dreaded paper work that ay state run facility had to do.

"Casey, you have a moment?" the father asked.

"Sure I do Fenton, what's on your mind?" the kindly doctor said, indicating a chair in front of Fenton.

The father took it gratefully, feeling all the weight of his years on him. "First, have you heard anything about Joe?"

Casey nodded, "He's doing fine. Things are actually going better then the thought. He'll be out of surgery in a few hours."

Fenton gave a quick and silent prayer of thanks before continuing, "And what have you learned about Frank? What have the blood test told you?"

Casey sighed and leaned back in her chair. This was the question that she had been dreading. "I'm still waiting for all the test results to come back, but it doesn't look good. It looks like he has an infection."

Fenton felt fear seize him at those words and took a claming breath before asking, "What are his chances? Is he strong enough to fight it?"

"No. By no means is he strong enough. He'll die."

For a long moment there was a heavy silence as the information was processed. Casey watched, very still, as the man in front of her dissected everything she had told him and then pushed it aside.

"One last question and then I'll stop taking up you time," Fenton said in a very strained voice.

"Certainly."

"When Ezra was taking Frank's statement, Frank couldn't remember…he didn't know if he had be raped."

"He wasn't. We did rape kits on both the boys, both were negative," Casey assured but then a thought hit her, "Of course we only checked for penetration. Frank did have bruising around his groan and inner thighs, but that could simply be from struggling with his attackers and being restrained. There's no definitive proof of rape."

Fenton sighed and ran an hand through his hair. It was not the answer he wanted to hear.

"This is a goddamn nightmare," he hissed to no one.


	25. Chapter 25

"Oh my god…"

This relatively simple statement was uttered by Callie as the six youths laid eyes upon the kitchen. And though it was a simple statement, it managed to put into words and voice what the rest were to dumbstruck to vocalize.

The crime scene, though it had been trampled and picked through, was no less horrific then it had been before. The dried blood and vomit had begun to reek after more then a day of being left to rot and the flies that had some how gotten in buzzed around the mess where a few maggots were already visible. This, combined with Joe's story, was enough to overwhelm the teens and threatened to suffocate them with despair.

"I'm going to be sick!" Vanessa declared before fleeing the kitchen and heading for the hall bathroom. Callie quickly followed her, leaving the boys alone in the room of horrors.

"That must have been where Frank was…" Phil said, his voice strangled with emotion as he pointed to a smear of blood and vomit next to the island. He tried not to focus on the island that was smeared with blood. Or the dried pools of blood and vomit on the floor next to it. Or the dried pool just feet away. Or the fact that the blood on the island was Frank's and that there was so much of it. Or that there was a pool of Joe's blood being eaten by maggots…or that it was everywhere…or…or…or….

"Yeah, Joe said he was by the island…" Biff said slowly, closing his eyes to block out what he was seeing.

"Come on Chet, let's go get the cleaning stuff…" Tony stammered as he guided Chet threw the kitchen to the basement. The bigger boy's snuffles could be heard clearly even as he left the room.

"God….I…How….I can't even….Who the hell could do something like this?!" Biff cried looking at Phil for answers.

But Phil offered none; he couldn't. He just looked around, trying to picture what happened. "There was nothing stolen from the house but it was ransacked like they were looking for something."

"Yeah, so?" Biff asked, a little shortly.

"Well…I mean…this looks like what Frank and Joe would describe as a break and search. You know, when some crook would be looking for a file their dad had but couldn't find it? That's what it looks like."

"Yeah, and?" Biff asked, starting to follow along.

"Well, whoever broke in had to know that…I mean they had to know about the break and search. And they worked really hard to make it look like one."

"What are you getting at?"

"I think that they wanted to make things look like a break and search gone bad. I don't know like…like they went looking for a folder but found Frank instead and he was being held hostage. Except that they weren't, it was diversion," Paul thought up loud.

"What does it matter, Mr. Hardy's office wasn't even touched," Biff pointed out.

"It means that whoever did this knows the Hardys really well. I mean really well."

Callie held Vanessa's hair and rubbed small circles in her back. Vanessa heaved one last time before sitting up and leaning her head against the bathroom wall. Callie reached over to the towel rack and pulled a hand towel off the rack, making sure she soaked it in cool water before handing it to Vanessa.

The younger girl took the towel gratefully and used it to wipe her face. "Thanks," she said.

Callie shrugged, "Trust me, I'm not going to be able to eat for the next year."

"Who could do something like that?" Vanessa asked, eyes wide.

Callie shrugged and sighed. She was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking about an answer. Finally she said, "I have no idea who, but I know that when I get a hold of them they'll find out exactly what Frank and Joe went through and then some."

Laura stood watch over her son, or more like stood guard. Anything, man, demon, or act of God, that threatened her baby tonight would be in sorry existence.

The mother was shaken, and she was upset, and that made her pissed. Someone had hurt her babies, some one had violated her home. But more then that, some one had shaken Frank so badly he was terrified.

While Joe had always been the physical stronger of her boys, always the better athlete and such, Frank had always been mentally stronger. Always the logical one, letting his mind reason away his fears. That wasn't to say he didn't have any fears. No, Laura knew quit well the fears of her eldest son.

Frank was afraid of spiders, after falling into a spider nest as a child. He was afraid of the dark, after getting locked a cellar once to be used as a hostage during one of his father's cases. He was afraid of small spaces and being tied up. He was afraid to lose Joe, or his parents and aunt, or one of his friends and of being alone. But each of these fears were carefully thought through and pushed aside until they didn't bother him.

Frank had the ability to take in all the facts, all the emotions, and all the detail of something and process it so that all that remained was the facts. His mind was so sharp and so strong all his fear couldn't stand up to logic. So it wasn't with a light heart that Laura Hardy's eldest baby said, "Mom I scared."

An hour ago, after Ezra had left, and Fenton had asked her to sit with Frank, Laura had held his son as he told her the awful truth about what had happened to him and Joe. He told her about his feelings, about his helplessness, his guilt, his anger, and his fear.

"_Mom I'm so scared…I'm so scared..." _he had sobbed while she held his good hand and stroked his hair, careful not to do anymore damage.

She had listened to him. She reassured him. She comforted him. She wiped his eyes when he was all cried out. She made him drink some water. She recited a simple children's poem in a soft voice until he was asleep. And she stood guard, a low hatred simmering in her.

Heaven help anyone who dare threaten her baby.


	26. Chapter 26

_I can never die. _

_There are many who have tried, but I can never die. _

_They said they were others that were better then me, others above me. But there are none who can beat me. _

_For one day they will die, and I can never die…_

"Honey, phone call. It's one of your little pales…."

"Coming mom."

"It's over, they're coming. They arrested Sarah, you know it's all over now!"

"Relax. If you stay silent then they'll have nothing. Just stick to the plan."

"What if they die? I thought you liked Frank?"

"Please. He's such a fake. I've told you before, the only reason why they got where they are is because they put innocent people behind bars. They do it for money. They frame people. Do you want to let them get away with their crimes?"

_Pause._

"Do you?"

"No."

"They keep your mouth shut."

_Click._

Con knocked lightly on the trailer door. Glancing over his shoulder to Sam and Sharon Brooks, the ADA who was helping them on the case. Just before they had left to arrest Sam Whelms, Larry (CSI guy) had called asking if one of the detectives could come. Carry volunteered and thus, Con called in Sam and Sharon to assist him.

"You have the court papers?" Con asked.

"I have a warrant," Sharon said, "Currently it's for a witness, like you suggested."

Con nodded, and then knocked on the door again. A muffled reply came from with in and he could hear someone approaching. However, it wasn't Sam Whelms who opened the door as expected.

"What the hell do you want?" Spat an angry Josh. His hair was sleep tossed and he was rubbing his eyes.

"Is your sister home?" Con asked, ignoring the boy's attitude. After all, it was sort of deserved.

"She's out. Probably one of her after school mother Teresa things. Why?"

Con was about to answer when Sharon spoke up, "We think your sister may have witnessed a crime and we want to talk to her."

"Is this about the Hardy's? Sammy doesn't even go to the same school. She doesn't even know them," Josh was quick to jump in.

"We need to talk to her, please Josh," Con said.

Josh sighed angrily, "Look, whatever, you think you can pin something on her you're wrong. She's a friking saint. But like I said she ain't here. She's out and I don't know where she is or when she'll be back."

"Do you mind if we just look around?" Sharon asked.

"Whatever," the teenager said, stepping aside.

Twenty minuets latter the group of law officers made their disappointed way back to the station.

"Let's hope Carry and Larry are having better luck," Con mumbled.

In fact Carry and Larry were doing better.

"So we got two things to add to our evidence. What do you want first, DNA or Trace?" Larry asked after greeting Carry in his office. The normally skewbald CSI looked tired and drained. It was clear to the detective that he had been working hard on the case. But it was also clear that he was excited, meaning he found something that may break it wide open."

"I always liked the alphabet," Carry said at an attempt for humor.

He reward was just a hint of a smile before Larry went on, "Alright, so in examining the pills that Frank had, I discovered traces of foreign DNA. On a hunch I compared it to the samples taken from the house and found that they match the cigar smoking suspect. So whoever he is, he not only had accesses to the house but the medication too."

"Yet we still don't have a match to anyone.," Carry said with a sigh.

"True, but that's where the lighter comes in. Ever since 9/11 the government has been tracking the purchase of all kinds of things. Lighters, for some reason, are one of these items. (AN. I have no idea if this is true or not, but it works for the story.)"

"Big brother is watching…." Carry said.

"Yeah, well, this lighter bought a week ago. It's too late to get any video from the gas station, the security cameras would have already recorded over it, but we did get lucky. They person who happened to buy this lighter used a debit card."

Carry smiled with satisfaction, "We have a name."

Phil sat out side of his parent's house on the front steps. He let the night air do it's best to clean the scent of violence from his mind. He and his friends had spent hours cleaning up the Hardy's home and repairing the damage. They had managed to get the blood and the gore up, but were hesitant to clean up the mess in the other rooms. They had little idea what was important to the Hardy's and decided it best to wait for one of them to be there.

Cleaning the house wasn't the only productive thing that they had achieved that day. In the living room, Vanessa had found a cheery cigar, one that Paul thought familiar. If he could only place where though. With an agitated sigh, Paul closed his eyes and thought over everything that he knew about the case.

Frank and Callie returned home early from the carnival because Frank was sick.

Callie left Frank at about seven thirty.

Some time between then and eleven at least three unknown suspects broke in and began the assault.

Joe came home at eleven and was over powered and assaulted.

The brothers were found the next morning by their parents.

The police discovered that the attackers were armature and that some how Frank's medication had been switched.

The first suspect was Josh Whelms.

He was cleared.

Then there was the girl that Tony worked with, Carry. From what Tony had said, she seemed to know something about what was going on and she did know Sam Whelms, Josh's sister.

But they had no connection to the Hardy's, at least not one as strong as Phil believed that the attackers had.

And then there was Bobby Ross and what


	27. Chapter 27

A/N

So my computer gliched and the last part of the chap was missing. Sorry about that….any way, this chap starts with the where the last chap left off and goes on.

Also, just to let you know, I'm going to focus on finishing one story at a time from now on so when this once is finished then I'll start on the another.

As always, thanks for reading, and enjoy.

Rabies,

Tyetye.

_Line._

Phil sat out side of his parent's house on the front steps. He let the night air do it's best to clean the scent of violence from his mind. He and his friends had spent hours cleaning up the Hardy's home and repairing the damage. They had managed to get the blood and the gore up, but were hesitant to clean up the mess in the other rooms. They had little idea what was important to the Hardy's and decided it best to wait for one of them to be there.

Cleaning the house wasn't the only productive thing that they had achieved that day. In the living room, Vanessa had found a cheery cigar, one that Paul thought familiar. If he could only place where though. With an agitated sigh, Paul closed his eyes and thought over everything that he knew about the case.

Frank and Callie returned home early from the carnival because Frank was sick.

Callie left Frank at about seven thirty.

Some time between then and eleven at least three unknown suspects broke in and began the assault.

Joe came home at eleven and was over powered and assaulted.

The brothers were found the next morning by their parents.

The police discovered that the attackers were armature and that some how Frank's medication had been switched.

The first suspect was Josh Whelms.

He was cleared.

Then there was the girl that Tony worked with, Carry. From what Tony had said, she seemed to know something about what was going on and she did know Sam Whelms, Josh's sister.

But they had no connection to the Hardy's, at least not one as strong as Phil believed that the attackers had.

And then there was Bobby Ross and what Mr. Granger had told them about him.

An then the recent discovery of the cherry scented cigar that seemed oh so familiar….

It all ran over and over again in Phil's head until everything was blurred together and he couldn't think.

With a frustrated sigh, he ran his hands over his face and spoke angrily to no one.

"Damn it all, damn you Frank! You're always saying how you have to watch your back, how you always have to be aware of what's around you! Well did you?! Did you follow your own damn advice?! NO! You're suppose to be here helping me plan senior week! You're suppose to be there passing notes with me during those damn meetings! WE'RE SUPPOSE TO GRADUATE TOGETHER!!"

Phil dissolved into tears and let his grief pour out of him. The rock of the group was slowly crumbling and there was no one to help piece him back together.

_Line._

There was no doubt that Joe was drugged, but at least he wasn't feeling at any pain. Opening his eyes slowly, his parents were the first thing that came into view.

"Hi a stranger," Laura said with a tired smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Though he couldn't smile, Joe tried his best to make his eyes shine. It seemed to work, a little.

"How you doing? You need anything?" his father asked.

Joe made the mistake of trying to talk, only to find that his jaw was weird shut.

Fenton chuckled quietly at the perturbed look on Joe's face and handed him a note book and pen. "This might help."

Joe took it gratefully and wrote;

_I hate drugs._

_Thirsty._

_Frank?_

Laura was the first to read the note and started to answer before Fenton got a chance to even skim.

"The drugs will wear off, and I'll get you some water. Frank is getting some more tests done and they want to change his bandages while they're at it."

Joe reclaimed the pad from his father and wrote;

_Is he ok?_

It was Fenton that answered this time, "So far so good. They're just being cautious. Don't worry, he's tough. You rest, I'll get you some water."

Joe nodded and let his eyes close. He really hated drugs, more so when they made him sleepy. But at least Frank was alright…

_Line._

Laura waited until she was sure Joe was asleep again before she asked Fenton, "When are we going to tell him?"

"Not before the drugs where off," Fenton said with a sigh. Just hours earlier Casey had moved Frank to a sterile room. The hope was to stop any new infections from entering his body, though it was to late to stop the sinus infection that had already started.

"What do you think?" Laura asked timidly.

Fenton sighed and angrily rubbed a hand through his hair, "I think I want to commit murder."

Laura nodded, "I can't blame you. I might just help."

Fenton puffed at that, "I think he'll be ok. Casey said he was stronger then she first thought, and they caught the infection early. She says there's time to suppress it. He'll be ok…he will be."

Though she was reluctant to agree, Laura hoped he was right. She hoped with all her might.

_Line._

"Say that again?" Con asked, excitement clear in his voice.

"_We have a name Con. Larry traced the lighter to an Eric Rose. We've sent a black and white to pick him up."_

"Carry, I think that's the best news I've heard all day. I could kiss you!"

There was a laugh on the other end of the phone before she said, _"Don't let my husband hear that!"_

Con let himself chuckle, "Why don't you up date the Hardy's and Biff, I'll let the others know."

"_Will do, see you in a few."_

With that the conversation ended and Con turned his attention to filling in the other two passengers.


	28. Answers

Answers

Fenton gave an aggravated sigh as he left his son and wife to answer his phone. Why could the world just let him be right now? His son's needed him, his wife needed him and he needed to be there for them. Why could the rest of the world understand? It frustrated and angered him that they wouldn't leave him alone.

"Hardy speaking," he barked.

"_Fen it's Sam, we have a suspect and we're bringing him in shortly. They want you here at the station for the questioning."_

Fenton let out a tired sigh and rubbed a hand through his hair, "Sam that's the best news I've heard all week. Tell them I'm on my way I just have to talk to Laura."

"_Right Fen. How are the boys?"_

Another sigh escaped the tired father and he glanced at the door to Joe's room. "Joe's sugary was a success, he's going to be fine. Frank is… He's sick Sam. They've isolated him…"

There was silence on the other end for a moment.

"_Damn…" was Sam's only reply._

line

Carry was practically bouncing when Con and the others arrived. Not only had they found Eric Rose in he process of leaving his home, but Sam Whelms was in the car with him. They now had two suspects in their integration room, and what was best was that both were scared and ready to talk.

"What's the good news?" Con asked as he and the other's entered. It was clear to his partner that something was wrong. His face was lined and eyes red rimed. As she looked at the others, she could see the same signs of stress on them.

"We have both Rose and Whelms. They were trying to flee together. We're letting them brew," Carry said then added, "What's wrong?"

"Frank's sick. They have him isolated. It's not looking good," Con explained.

Carry had a sharp in take of breath but quickly suppressed her feelings. "What do you want to do?"

It was Sam who answered first, "Let's wait for Fenton. He's on his way over."

"I agree," Sharon said quickly, "while we're waiting I want to work on getting warrants for DNA testing and talking to their parents."

"We were able to get a hold of both, but neither are here yet," Carry answered.

"Have they given consent to question?"

"Yes but they're really pissed. They clam neither of their kids could do anything like this. And from what we know they're good kids. Straight A students, no disciplinary problems, both excepting into New York University. They don't even know the Hardy brothers personally.

Sharon sighed heavily, "Then we better wait for them. Won't do us any good to give lawyers legalities for dismissal."

"We're missing a link," Con sighed as he rubbed his temples. "And what's worst is that it's right on the tip of my mind."

"Isn't always?" a tired Fenton Hardy said as he entered the squad room, catching the others off guard.

"Fenton, you got here faster then I thought," Sam said in way of greeting.

"I want some answers."

"We all do Fen. But we've got to take this slow. They're two scared kids and we don't want to risk losing them or maybe flipping them," Con said to the father.

"Relax Con, I just want to watch the interviews, I know better then to interfere. Now show me these kids."

line

Laura was taking an opportunity to check on Frank. Joe was out for the count and Fenton had left to go to the station. There was a suspect. A suspect. And maybe, maybe, some answers.

Answers to questions like why her babies were here in a hospital when they should be preparing for the end of the school year. Why was Joe's mouth wired shut and Frank's hand held together by pins? Why were her boys being made to suffer? Why was her eldest son was fighting for his life?

She stood outside the isolation room staring in through the window, her only connection to her son for the moment. She could see him clearly. He had an oxygen mask on but still seemed to be having slight difficulty breathing. He was pale and there were two red patches on his checks. He was also visibly in pain.

At the moment he was awake, though Laura could tell he was losing the battle with sleep. He looked at her with warm brown eyes that did their best to sooth away her worries but the mother was not soothed. Her own teary blue eyes gave her away.

Laura Hardy smiled at her son, a soft reassuring smile as she held a sheet of paper up that read; _Joe woke up. All is well._

Her smile grew when she saw her oldest son relax and even manage a slight smile.

Laura felt giddy knowing that some of her son's tension and stress was relieved. She turned the paper over and scribbled on it, _I love you, go to sleep._

Frank gave her a thumbs up sigh before slowly drifting off for the night.

line

For others though, sleep was not soon to come.

At the Hardy house there was stirrings happening that would change the lives of all involved.


	29. Chapter 29

(A/N: Sorry that it's been so long. Hope it's worth the wait.)

Fenton sat staring into oblivion

Fenton sat staring into oblivion. To his right was a window looking in at Eric Rose, to his left was a window looking in at Sam Whelms. They were two ordinary looking kids, clean cut, healthy, all American kids. Eric was a little shorter then Frank, buzzed cut blond hair, blue eyed sturdy built farm kid. Sam was a wispy, brown haired pretty girl, a little taller then most girls her age. They didn't look like the cruel sadistic monsters Fenton had imagined. They didn't have horns or fangs; they didn't look capable of torture. In fact they looked like two scared kids. He almost felt sorry for them.

Almost. Then he remembered finding Joe on the floor reaching across blood and vomit to try and touch Frank. Then he remembered Frank's lifeless body and trying to force air into his failing lungs. He remembered Joe's mouth being wired shut and Frank lying in isolation. He didn't feel so sorry for them after all.

The others had left to go meet with Sharon. The parents had arrived and so had the warrants, they were gathered in Ezra's office fighting, crying, protesting and whatever else parents do. Fenton had opted to stay in the witness room fearing that his emotions would get the better of him. Of course, now his thoughts were getting the better of him as he sat there alone.

He decided that a cup of strong, 'going to kill you', coffee would be in order to make it through the night. Maybe even a pot. So he decided to leave to go make some, but standing in his way when he opened the door, were the others.

"We're going to start questioning them. Their parents are going to sit in. Carry I want you in with the boy and Con you're with the girl. Larry's on his way to take the… Oh, Fenton, what's up?" Sharon said in one fluid speech as she nearly walked into the detective.

She was leading Sam, Con, and Carrie into the witness room. They all looked tired but satisfied, like things were going their way for a change. It was a good sign.

"I was on my way to get some coffee. You have the parent's permission to pursue questions?" Fenton replied.

"Seems like it. The parents want to sit in and they don't have lawyers, they're holding in to the fact that their kids are good kids," Con answered.

Fenton ran a hand through his hair and sighed, "When are you going to start?"

"Soon as you come back with the coffee," Sam answered, "Nobody makes it better then you Fen."

"And when the Chief's done with the parents. He wants to sit in," Carrie added.

"Which will take him about as long as it does you to make coffee," Sam joked, hoping to get a smile from his partner.

It worked, if only for the briefs of seconds.

Half an hour later, and several cups of coffee, Fenton, Ezra, and Sam watched the events unfolding in interview room two. The group had decided on questioning Sam Whelms first, hoping that she was the weakest link. In interview one, Carry and Larry went over the warrant with Eric. But all eyes were on Sam.

She sat very timid and still next to her father as Sharon and Con explained to her, her situation.

**line**

"We have a witness who saw you're truck on the Hardy's block. We have Frank Hardy's descriptions of four attackers, one who matches you to a T. And when Larry gets done with the testing, I'm pretty sure we'll have your DNA," Sharon said coldly, laying it all out to the scared girl.

"That ain't nothing. It can all be explained away. Besides Josh drives that damn truck too," barked Mr. Whelms. Sam, for her part, just focused on her hands.

"Yes, but we've already talked to Josh, and his story checked out. Besides, Frank Hardy saw you," Con said, looking directly at Sam. His voice was calm and deep, soothing. He was offering her a way out, and he wanted her to know it.

"Josh is a stupid piece of shit, and as for _Frank Hardy_, last I heard he was lying in the hospital dieing. How the hell could he tell you a damn thing? Besides, how the hell could he remember anything?" barked Mr. Whelms again.

"Frank Hardy is quite aware of things Mr. Whelms, and as for his memory, Frank Hardy is a trained detective that has worked hundreds of cases with his father. His memory, even under sever stress, has been proven reliable. Now if you would please shut up and let me talk to Sam?" Con said, his voice changing to the cop voice he had mastered. The trick worked and Mr. Whelms backed off grudgingly.

With the father silenced Con then focused his attention back on Sam, "Sam, there's DNA. We'll match it to someone, and it's very likely that it'll be you."

Con paused, leaving Sharon the chance to step in. "You're a smart girl Sam, you know the possible out comes, you know we're not lying. You also know the first one who talks walks? There is away out, but you have to get it for yourself. The DNA…"

"Won't match me," Sam said softly, her eyes starting to water.

"Samantha, don't say anything," Whelms hissed, but was silenced by a look from Con.

"Sam, why won't it match you?" Con asked.

"I want immunity," Sam said, looking both detective and lawyer in the eye.

"I can't promise, it depends on your involvement…" Sharon began but was cut off by Sam.

"Not for me, for Eric. He was forced to help. He didn't want to but he didn't want to hurt me…." Sam said a bit rush as she started to cry.

Con took her hand in his and gave it a soft squeeze. "I'll tell you what, you do two things for me and I'll things right."

"Really?" Sam asked, her eyes reflecting the small child that was deep inside her. The one that still believed grownups when they said everything was fine.

"Really. But first you have to tell me what you know and then convince Eric to do the same. You two did a horrible, horrible thing, but I believe you didn't want to. I believe it wasn't your choice and things got out of control before you knew what to do. And now you're trapped. You don't have a ways out. But I'm giving you your way out. I can't promise to make it all better, but I can promise to make things easier. Do you trust me?"

Sam sat stone still for several heartbeats before giving the slightest of nodes, "Carry is my best friend, and her boyfriend is Bobby Rose. Eric is Bobby's cousin and I met him through Bobby. Both Bobby and Eric go to Bayport High, Carry and I go to East Bayport, and until this year Josh did too. But he got sent to Bayport and that's when all this started. Bobby's always been controlling and sometimes scary, but he makes Carry happy and he and Eric are close so I…"

"Put up with him?' Sharon prompted.

"Yeah. Well, Bobby has issues, and don't know why, but he hated the Hardy brothers, and he really hated Frank. He came up with this plan on how to get them. At first it was just suppose to be a break in to scare them. But everything got so out of control…when he got a hold of Frank Bobby didn't want to scare him anymore he wanted to hurt him."

"Bobby was the leader? Bobby was calling the shots?" Con asked.

"Yeah, it was all him. Carry went along because she loves him, and he wanted to use my truck cause nobody would recognize it. But I didn't want to have a part of anything so he threatened Josh."

"What do you mean?" Sharon asked.

"Going to Bayport High was Josh's last chance. He had been kicked out of our school and we couldn't afford private. Besides, the program they have there, students helping students, it was working. Josh was doing better then he had in years. But Bobby rigged it so that it looked like Josh was cheating. He told me if I didn't help then he would turn Josh over to the principal as a cheater. And because Eric loves me he agreed to help. We never wanted to have any part of this."

"Why didn't you try to stop him? Why did you go along with it?" Con asked.

"Because I was scared! Carry was brainwashed, he had my brother on a chokehold, and Eric was scared! I had my back against the wall. I didn't know what to do," Sam said breaking down into tears.

"All them smarts and you didn't know what to do?!" bellowed Whelms, " You ain't better then your damn brothers."

"I think that's enough out of you Mr. Whelms," Sharon snapped at the disgusting man before her, "Samantha, it's going to be okay. But you haven't answered why your DNA won't be in the house? Where you there when Frank and Joe were being hurt?"

"No, no, I tried to stop him…Bobby was…he was...he was trying to rape Frank and I stopped him….I left the house…."

"So you didn't hurt them?" Sharon asked.

"No, I never wanted to hurt them. I didn't know what Bobby wanted to do, Eric didn't know…."

"Did Eric leave with you?" Con asked.

"No, he stayed. I don't know why, but he stayed," Sam said her tears slowing.

"Is that all you know? There's nothing else you can tell us?" Con asked.

"No, nothing I can't think of…."

"Alright Sam, then I'll give you a few minuets to clean up and we can go talk to Eric, alright?"

"Alright…Detective Con, will Eric be alright? Will Frank and Joe be alright?" She asked softly.

"Eric stayed behind in the house, so he might have helped to hurt Frank and Joe. He may have to go to jail, but if he helps us catch Bobby and if what he says agree with what you said then we can work something out. As for Frank and Joe, Joe is going to be fine. It's going to take time, but he'll make it. Frank is still touch and go…."

**line**

Callie made her way down the isolation hall. She had worked in the hospital as a volunteer all four years of high school and this had always been her least favorite ward. It was always so depressing to see, all these people who were sick or hurt and only allowed to see their loved ones through glass. No one was allowed to touch them or to be with them. It was a very lonely place to be in. So why was she walking down this hallway at eleven o'clock at night? Frank was there.

She made her way quietly, trying not to be noticed. For even though she was a normal sight in the hospital, it was not normal hours and they could tell her to leave. But she had to see him, she had to see Frank. The last few days she had been building up her courage to and at ten o'clock that courage had hit her. Now she was here and there was no turning back.

Find out what room Frank was in had been the easy part, the nurses long was no mystery to her, but finding the room was harder then she thought. The isolation ward was a long and winding and Callie found that avoiding it for so long has left her with no idea where she was. She was wondering aimlessly when she walked into Mrs. Hardy.

"Callie! Jeez child what are you doing here this time of night?" Laura exclaimed with a tired smile.

Callie blushed and smiled shyly, "I'm looking for Frank, but I'm all turned around."

"How'd you know he was in the isolation ward?" Laura asked as she guided the girl towards her son's room.

"I looked it up, Gladys at the nurses station let me…I work here once a week so all I had to do was ask."

"That's a little nerve racking, but I'm glad that you came," Laura said.

"Why has Frank been moved here? Is e getting worse?" Callie asked timidly.

"He's not doing well…he's sick, but he's also in pain. The drugs aren't helping and they can't increase his dose because of the other medications he's on. They hope that the isolation will help his body get stronger," Laura answered.

"Not good at all," Callie said, a catch in her voice. But Laura said nothing in response, the two women had reached Franks room.

Callie was shocked by what she saw. Tubes and machines running circles around her boyfriend, his pale skin peeking out through the bandages and the burns, made him look like a rag doll. It was clear that Frank was sick, it was clear that he was in pain, and it was also clear that he was awake.

"He was asleep when I left, the pain must be getting worse," Laura said to herself.

Callie ignored her, instead she moved closer to the glass and tapped on it lightly. It attracted Frank's attention and he moved his head carefully to look out. A smile spread on his face when he saw Callie standing there and tears filled his eyes. Callie could feel her own tears forming and she mouthed the words "I love you," to him.

That was all she had to tell him and all he needed to hear.


	30. Chapter 30

Phil let himself into the Hardy home with the spare key Mrs. Hardy had given him. It felt wrong, like he was breaking in or something, but he kept telling himself that it was to help Frank and Joe. He wanted to see the crime scene again, even if it was cleaned up and mostly organized. He needed to put everything into context.

Taking a deep breath the teen movie through the house as he played his theory of what happened the other night.

_Frank got sick, his sinuses acted up because someone changed his medication. Callie had made Frank dinner and they called his parents. She made sure he was in bed and then left. She forgot to arm the alarm. _

_Some time after she left, the invaders came in. There had to have been more then one because even sick, Frank could take out at least two. They over powered him, most likely in the living room due to the mess that was there, then dragged him to the kitchen. _

_The tortured him for God knows how long before Joe came home. They over powered Joe and dragged him into the kitchen. Joe too was then tortured. Some more time passed and then the invaders attempted to murder Frank and Joe before leaving._

_Who ever attacked them had to know the house and had to know the Hardys routine. They had to know that Mr. and Mrs. Hardy would be gone for the weekend and so would Ms. Gertrude. The attack, by nature, were personal so the attackers had to know the brothers, had wanted to hurt the brothers. There also had to be one leader, one planner, and one person calling the shots. And they had to be smart, the whole thing seemed too organized to be just a random attack._

_Josh had motive, but Josh wasn't the planning type. He was too impulsive, and besides, he didn't know the Hardys that well, just Frank. And Joe said that his attackers had been teenage size, and there were three of them… Maybe teenage neighbors?_

There was a bang that shook Phil out of his thoughts. He had wondered into the kitchen and now made his way back to the front door. He was surprised to see Bobby Rose standing there looking around.

"Can I help you?" Phil asked, suspiciously.

Bobby shrugged and turned to face Phil, "The door was open. With all that's been going on, I thought I'd check it out. So what are you doing here anyways Phil?" As he spoke, Bobby had rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a cigar.

It was then that it all clicked in Phil's mind. All the pieces, everything he had learned, the cigar and why it looked familiar. Bobby Rose was the final picture and now he was alone in the Hardy house with him.

line

Laura had left Callie keeping visual over Frank to go and check on her youngest. She had found him awake and looking slightly more, clear-headed so she took the opportunity to tell him of Frank's status. He didn't take it well, and now laid crying and refusing to look at his mother. Laura couldn't blame him, but it didn't ease her own distress.

'I could really use some good news right about now Fenton…' she sighed as she listened to her son cry.

line

"So, what are you doing here?" Bobby asked Phil again, when he didn't answer right away.

"I was here cleaning up earlier and I think I left something behind. I just came back to get it…" Phil answered nervously as he backed up a bit.

"What you leave behind?" Bobby asked, taking several steps into the house. He was looking around, studying the rooms and almost ignoring Phil.

"How's it any of your business," Phil demanded, "You're not suppose to be in here."

Bobby looked at him half interested now, a sly smile on his face. "How do you think they felt? What do you think it was like for them?"

"What?"

Bobby walked past Phil, into the kitchen to look around, "Frank and Joe, what do you think was going through their head when they knew they were going to die?"

"Why don't you tell me Bobby…" Phil said backing away from the other teen.

Bobby's smiled widened and he now gave his full attention to Phil, "My, my, what have you been up to today?"

"Why did you do it Bobby? Why Frank and Joe?"

"Why'd I do what? What am I suppose to have done?" Bobby asked, as if he was without a care in the world.

"You attacked Frank and Joe, why?" Phil asked, his back against the kitchen wall, when Bobby didn't say anything, Phil went on. "Whoever attacked Frank and Joe knew the Hardys, all of them. They waited for when it would be just Frank and Joe home and they waited for when the brothers would be separated. They knew the layout of the house, they knew where everything was kept and they were teenagers. You've lived across the street from the Hardys for years. You work at the drugstore and could switch out Frank's medication to make sure he'd be separated from his brother. Your houses are identical, you've even stayed over here before…."

"Can you prove that?" Bobby interrupted, an edge to his voice.

"I will."

There was a silence as the tension in the room built to the point where Phil felt the air leaving. Then Bobby laughed, it started off as a chuckle before it erupted into sidesplitting laughter. He turned his back on Phil, seemingly to try and regain his cool but in reality he was pulling out a knife.

"You know Phil that you can't prove it but I can't have you going around spreading rumors…" Bobby said as he faced Phil, murder in his eyes.


	31. Chapter 31

"Mr. Rose, Eric, do you mind if I call you Eric?" Con asked as he entered the room. Sharon had gone to talk to the DA about working out a deal while Carry took Sam to the bathroom.

"Eric's fine," The boy mumbled.

"Alright, Eric it is then," Con took the seat in front of Eric. He was all nice cop, smiles, polite, everyone's body. He'd even bought in some coffee and soda for Eric and his father.

"Officer…" Mr. Rose began, ignoring the coffee.

"Detective Con."

"Detective Con, before you start questioning my son I want to know what exactly he's being accused of and what evidence you have to support it."

"Eric is being accused of being an accomplice in a break in, false imprisonment, and assault. Besides Frank and Joe's statements, we have Sam's confession."

"What?!" Eric exclaimed, "Sam what?!"

Con raised his hand in a pacifying gesture, "She confessed her role in the attacks. She also asked for immunity for you. She's very worried about you and what's going to happen to you," the door behind him opened and Carry and Sam walked in, "I'll let her explain. Mr. Rose, can you please go with Detective Carry?"

"I want to stay with my son," the father began, obviously upset with the situation.

"Yes sir, I understand that, but we have some paper work for you," Carry said, directing the man to the door.

"Eric don't say anything," was the father's last words before he exited the room.

Sam had hidden herself in the far corner while every one talked around her. She wanted to run over to Eric and let him hold her because that was the only way she'd be safe. But Eric was watching her with mistrust.

"Now then, easier to talk with out your dad here, huh Eric?" Con said. "Sam and you are going to talk and I just want you to pretend I'm not here. There's no reason for you to hide anything, alright?"

That said, Con vacated his seat and motioned for Sam to take it. She did and for a moment she just looked at her hands.

"Eric..." but he turned away from her.

"Eric please…. Please just listen to me, I've never lied to you before," he still didn't respond but Sam continued. "They can help us, if we tell them what happened and testify against Bobby then they can help us. They can make us a deal and give us a way out. Bobby can't hurt you anymore if you tell them what he did. Eric, please…."

The please was what did it, the teary pleading in his girlfriend's voice. It tore at his heart and he finally had to look at her.

"I told them my part, and I told them about the threats and how Bobby forced you to come along. If you testify against Bobby it'll be ok…. Right?" Sam asked looking over at Con, pleading again.

"Right. Sharon from the District Attorney's Office, she's talking to her boss right now to cut you a deal. We can make this right Eric."

For a moment Eric chewed his lip looking from his girlfriend to the detective and back again. His head was spinning and he felt like this was all a nightmare and that he would wake up any minuet and it would all be gone. But he knew that it wouldn't, and God was he tired of lying.

"Bobby never liked Frank…."

And so began his confession.

line

"Mrs. Hardy?" Callie called softly as she knocked on Joe's door. She found herself unsure and confused as to what she should do. She could hear Joe crying and the 'big sister' in her wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know if it was with in her place to do so. She didn't even know if she was welcome in his room, but Laura eased some of her worries.

"Come in Callie dear," she welcomed, and Callie could tell that the older women had been crying.

"I just wanted to let you know I was leaving…. Are you ok?" Callie whispered softly so Joe wouldn't over hear her. Not that it really mattered, the youngest Hardy seemed lost in his own world.

Laura looked over at her baby and had to fight back a new wave of tears, "He's terrified that he's going to lose his brother and there's nothing I can do or say to help ease that."

Callie took in those words and the pain that they held with a somber air. She knew she could never understand even slightly what Mrs. Hardy was going through, nor Joe, but she did know somewhat the fear that they were currently living in. For she was terrified as well. She was terrified that Frank was going to die and the man that she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with would be gone. She was terrified of the grief that would tare her heart to shreds and void her soul. She was terrified for her friends and wondered if they could weather such a loss as Frank Hardy? The group had nearly been destroyed when Iola died, how could they function if their rock was no longer there? She was terrified that if they lost Frank, they would lose Joe and she would be out two of the most important people in her life. In fact, she was so terrified that it forced her into action.

"Mrs. Hardy, do you mind if I talk to Joe, privately?" she asked, a determination in her voice.

The older women recognized the plea for what it was and knew the determination in the young women's voice. She had felt that way so many times before herself, and so while she was reluctant to leave her baby when he needed her, she did. "I'll go check on Frank for a bit and call Fenton."

Callie smiled at her gratefully and watched as she left. For a moment she stood in the room, gathering herself for what she needed to do. The silence stretched on, interrupted only by the sounds of Joe's sobs. It was heart breaking, but she wouldn't let it stop her.

Moving with purpose she stood at the foot of Joe's bed; "Joseph Hardy, stop being a cry baby."

The statement had the desired effect and the Hardy boy glared up at her.

"What? You think you're not? Sitting here crying over what _might_ happen? Are you giving up on him already? He's not dead Joe. Frank's still here he's still fighting and if he saw you like this you know damn well he'd kick your ass." She gave him a moment to register what she had said before continuing on in a softer tone, "I can't say that it's alright cause it's not. It's bad and we both know it and we both know that we can't see the future, but right now we've got to hold it together. You can't fall apart on us Joe just as much as we can't fall apart on you. We need each other."

Joe reached for his pad and pen and Callie gave him time to write down what he wanted to say;

_I failed him. I didn't protect him._

"Joe, you couldn't protect him. You were tortured too. It's not your fault and no one blames you."

_But I should have fought, I could have…_

"What? You could have what?" Callie asked while reading over his shoulder, interrupting him before he had the chance to finish writing. "You would have been killed Joe, they had knives and out numbered you."

_I would have thought of something._

Callie sighed and sat on the edge of Joe's bed fighting back her own tears. "I know that you were alone with him. I know that you were left waiting for help to come and knew that Frank was dieing. I can't imagine how that felt, I can't even wrap my mind around how you survived. The closest I can come to understanding is when my parents were in the car crash last April and we didn't know if my mom would pull through. And that barley compares. Joe, I don't know what to say, or what I can do to help you. But I promise you, I'll be here to listen and I'll do whatever you need me and I swear if you keep sitting here feeling sorry for yourself I'll tell Frank and video tape him kicking your ass."

The faintest hint of a smile played at Joe's lips, and though his eyes still held tears he seemed a little bit better.

_Thanks Cal._

Her reply was a hug.

Outside the room Laura peeked in, watching the interaction and thanking God for Callie Shaw.

line

Con came into the observation room exhausted. Sharon was talking with the kids now, yes kids. Not suspects, not monsters, not psychotics, just kids. Bobby Rose was the monster. Bobby Rose was the psychotic. Eric and Sam were just two more of his victims.

There were some cases that an officer knew he would never forget. This was one of them, not just because the victims were Frank and Joe, but because the attacker was just a teenager and already capable of such vicious acts. This case would be Con's newest nightmare for so many reasons and for so many years.

"Good work detective," Ezra said as Con entered.

"Thank you sir," was the exhausted automatic reply as he slumped into a vacated seat.

"We've sent out squad cars to pick up the other two kids and they should have them shortly. Sharon managed to get the girl amnesty and the boy can get off with probation as long as they both testify," Ezra finished catching Con up.

Con took it in and once it had registered he looked over at Fenton and Sam. The two older detectives were sitting in the back of the room looking every bit their age. Sam looked tired but slightly victorious. Fenton just looked old and bone weary.

"What you thinking Fenton?" Con asked.

It took the tired man a moment to answer but when he did it was a slow and aged voice, "Laura called. They're putting Frank on life support."

line

Phil froze for an instant as Bobby lunged for him, but only for an instant. He managed to throw himself out of the way just seconds before Bobby embedded the knife into the wall where his head had been.

Phil was not an athlete. He didn't have the skill and speed that the rest of his friends had nor the strength. The closest he came to being an athlete was when he and Frank would go running by the bay. Still, he found in himself what he needed to act as if he was the world's greatest athlete.

Bobby came at him several times brandishing the knife and each time Phil was able to dodge the blade. Though he was chased around the kitchen, Phil managed to make it to the entrance hall with out being stabbed. But as he made for the front door, Bobby tackled him and the two began to wrestle, the knife hovering between the two boy's throats.

Bobby was on top, and though Phil managed to hold his arm back, he still had the advantage. Freeing himself from Phil's grip, he made an attempt to stab Phil in the heart, but Phil moved and he missed. Instead he grazed Phil's left arm before he was thrown off and Phil was again moving for the door.

He made it this time and managed to get out before Bobby could tackle him again. But just as soon as his foot hit the porch, he was dragged back into the house and the knife was piercing his skin again. This time it hit him in his side and he fell to his knees.

Bobby pushed him to the floor and gloated over him while preparing to deal a deathblow. "It's been fun Phil," he said, not expecting Phil to have any fight left in him. But Phil was full of surprises and he gave Bobby a hard kick to his leg, toppling him over. With the last of his strength, Phil managed to make it out the door into the front yard.

He knew that Bobby was following him, just as he knew that he was losing too much blood way too fast. What he didn't know though, was if Bobby would kill him in the yard or not. Turns out that it wouldn't matter because as he made his way to the edge of the Hardy yard, a squad car pulled into the driveway across the street.


	32. Chapter 32

The elevator doors barley open before Laura was moving. The ER was, as always, busy with doctors, nurses, orderlies, patients, and just people moving every which way. But Laura knew exactly where she was heading. Mrs. Cohen had called her and told her that Phil had been attacked and was in the ER. Hearing the fear in the other mother's voice and connected by a comment bond, Laura came to the woman's side. Callie was with Joe, Frank was asleep, and her friend needed her.

There was a circle of police officers that surrounded the privet waiting room. They parted for her, some tipping their hats as she made her way inside. She was surprised to find her husband their talking softly with the distraught mother.

"Rachel," Laura called softly, startling the pair.

"Laura," the other woman said, and Laura knew that tone of voice and that look in the eyes. It was the look of someone who just had their soul ripped out or of a mother who was losing her baby and had no way to stop it.

Without hesitation, Laura went to her friend and held her as the woman cried softly. That was one thing about Rachel, she was a strong women and rarely got hysterical. She and Laura had been friends since Frank and Phil first met and through all the years Rachel had been a steady support to her. Now as she held her friend in her hour of need her eyes looked up at Fenton asking without words what happened.

From their last phone call she knew that they had caught three of the four teenagers that had attacked her boys. She knew that they were still looking for Bobby Rose, a boy that she had once served milk and cookies after school. A boy that had been in her house and lived across from her family for years. But how all this involved Phil and what had happened to him were still a mystery.

"Phil was at our house when Bobby came in. He attacked Phil and we don't know why. Bobby escaped through the back yard and they're still searching. We'll find him though, Phil put up a good fight and he was limping," Fenton explained softly so that only Laura could hear him.

"How bad?" Laura mouthed.

"He was stabbed twice, once in the arm and once in the side. They said it looked like it may of punctured his lung," Fenton finished. Rachel sobbed slightly and Fenton looked.

"I'm going to go check on the boys, do you ladies need anything?"

"No Fenton, go on…" Laura said softly. The two communicated without words, a skill that all their years together had taught them, this right here was Laura's job and it was ok that Fenton go and do his.

line

"Your name is Carry huh? That's my name too," said the detective in a pleasant voice. She was taking over for Con so the tiered man could get a nap.

The girl in front of her was a shell of the picture that her parents had provided. The lively, vivid and intelligent girl present in the picture was now hallowed, scared, and a drone. She had the kind of look that Carry had seen in so many battered women and she understood why Sam was so afraid.

"Carry, I've been looking over you school file. You're an honor student and part of the NHS, 4.0 GPA. You're a shift manager at Mr. Pizza and accepted to Harvard. You also were active in choir and drama at your school. You must have been very busy in high school," the detective said, glancing up at the girl. There was no indication that she had heard her so she kept going.

"You were very busy, so I don't know how you found the time to break into a house and torture two boys."

The statement hung heavy in the air and Carry saw the teenage flinch slightly, but still she said nothing.

"Carry, you're eighteen and there is nothing I can do or that your parents can do to keep you from being charged as an adult. We have a lot of evidence against you and Bobby and we have witnesses. You are going to prison, but you don't have to go for long. If you help us catch Bobby, if you work with us, we'll tell the judge. They'll go easy on you. Carry, he's left you to take the fall, he doesn't love you. Help yourself Carry. Save yourself. You know where he is, tell us."

Still there was nothing. No sound, no movement, only the soft sounds of her breathing.

"Carry, we'll find him with or with out you. I'm sure Eric can tell us where Bobby is. I'm sure he'd be willing to. In fact I'm going to go talk to him now. You have until I walk out the door and then all bets are off," Carry said as she stood. She waited a moment before she turned and headed for the door and still the teenager said nothing. Not until she had opened the door.

"You're wrong. Bobby loves me. And I love him."

And the words were spoken so robotically that they made the detective shiver.

line

"Any luck?" Con asked his partner, catching up with her in the break room. He had watched the interview from the observation room, and it had disturbed him. A look at Carry when she walked past the observers had said it had disturbed her as well. Con had thus opted to talk to Eric Rose, who was all too willing to tell them where Bobby would hide, allowing Carry time to gather herself together. Now, finding her with a mug of Fenton's coffee in hand, sitting at the break table, it was clear that she was shaken up and he was worried about her.

"She's broken. She's just a broken soulless child who's been beaten into delusion. She's no more responsible for what happened to Frank and Joe then you and I. She's a robot," Carry stated, the full stress and horror of the past few days dawning on her.

"This whole case sucks," Con said softly after several minuets. "It just….I know Frank and Joe. I've had dinner at the Hardy home, I've worked with the boys, I know them. And at the start of this case I wanted to lynch the bastards who did this. And then I met them, kids, they're kids. And three of them are so terrified of the one boy that they blindly follow his every move. This is the kind of case that fucks with your mind and will haunt you until you're died. Not just because of Frank and Joe and what they suffered, but because of the perpetrates and who they are, and in the case of the three of them, what they suffered."

"What do you do? How do you live with it?" Carry asked after some time.

"You go home and hug your kids, tell your husband you love him, call your parents and tell them how grateful you are that they're alive and call up an old friend and ask them if they want to catch up. You live. In here you're a cop, out there you live."

There was another long silence as Carry wiped unshed tears from her eyes and gathered herself together.

"Thanks Con," she managed to say.

Con smiled, but before he could respond another detective came into the break room and interrupted them.

"Hey, the Chief's been looking for you two. A couple of uniforms found your suspect and are bringing him in now."

line

Fenton watched as his eldest slept. He had gone first to see Joe and found Callie there as well. He gave the pair a complete update of all the events that had just transpired. They took it better then he thought but they didn't take it well. Callie had started to cry softly and quickly left the room mumbling something about making a phone call. Joe had flung his pen and paper across in the only form of outburst that he could make. The father had stayed with his son until the boy had cried himself to sleep, not knowing what he could do to help besides hold him.

Now he looked in on his eldest, knowing that he had to tell him but also knowing there was no way to comfort him. Joe and Phil were friends, and Joe hadn't taken the news well at all. Frank and Phil were almost like twins, normally you couldn't have one without the other. Joe at least had the comfort of touch, what did Frank have? The knowledge that they had three of the four attackers? The knowledge that Phil was stabilized? The knowledge that Joe was holding his own?

What the hell kind of good was that?

Not for the first time since finding his son's did Fenton feel his blood boil.

Here were his boys lying in two separate hospital rooms because of a kid they had grown up with. When he thought about all the times that Bobby Rose had been at his house, when he had taken him trick or treating with his sons, or watched them playing baseball in the streets, bought him ice cream…. It was unbelievable. It was just flat out unbelievable the thought that he could torture Frank and Joe.

Fenton sighed and ran his hand through his hair. It was then that he noticed a pair of brown eyes watching him. Quickly the father picked up the white-wash-board that was their only source of communication with Frank. He quickly scribbled out '_Phil's been attacked. It's NOT life threatening. He need's surgery, but HE WILL BE FINE.'_

He held it up, and watched his son's face. The play of emotion's was tell tale and Fenton wished he was allowed to touch his son and comfort him. But all he could do was re-enforce the fact that Phil was going to be fine. It took awhile, and Frank was clearly upset, but he managed to pull himself together enough for Fenton to go on.

'_We caught them. We know who attacked you. It was Bobby Rose and some of his friends.'_

Again Fenton watched the play of emotion on his son's face. The disbelief, shock, hurt, betrayal and then the anger were all present and Fenton knew that it was the mirror image that his own had been earlier. Fenton had no idea what to say or what he could do to help Frank. There was his oldest lying in a bubble room with tubes breathing for him and wires placed just about everywhere they could be. Frank was in obvious pain despite the pain medication, and it was clear that mentally he was not doing well either. And now he had even more to deal with.

But before Fenton could dwell on it his cell rang.

"Fenton."

"_We got him Fen. They're bringing him in now. We'll hold him until you get here."_


	33. Why?

**Why?**

The police station was a buzz tonight. Officers had their work cut out for them with booking suspects, completing paper work, and interviewing suspects, witnesses and victims. But in a small back interview room time stood still; no one was going anywhere. All eyes were on Con and Bobby Rose. Or, more precisely, all eyes were on the optical illusion that was Bobby Rose, trying desperately to see the monster in the all American boy he presented.

Bobby was neatly dressed in a summer weight, sky blue polo and kaki pants. His blond hair was neatly spiked in a popular hairstyle and his features were as handsome and neutral as possible. His green eyes danced around the room. He was perfectly calm and projected the image that this was just some mistake that well all be corrected.

Con, by contrast, was in a rumpled suite with bags forming under his eyes. His normally neat hair was slightly messy and there seemed to be some gray in it now. A five o'clock shadow was trying to become a beard and he reeked of coffee. His appearance gave the sense of a red-eyed detective that would lose it at any second, but there was a sense of competence and calm, assertive collection about him. He was the cat who had trapped the mouse but was just waiting for the right time to strike.

"So, Robert, you're eighteen, are you not?" Con asked, taking a sip of coffee.

Bobby smiled polite, "Bobby, please, and yes I am eighteen."

Con nodded, and made a note on the legal pad in front of him, "Alright, Bobby. Did the officers who arrested give you your rights or tell you why you were being arrested?"

"I'm afraid that wasn't so clear sir."

The perfect example of prime and proper young men, how could any boy this perfectly behaved be the monster that they were looking for? Easy, he was a damn good actor.

"Alright then, I would like to advise you that you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in court. You have the right to speak to an attorney; the court will provide you one if you request so. You have the right to have that attorney here while you are being questioned. Any questions about what I've told you?"

"Just why you're telling me this sir."

Con sipped his coffee again, taking his time. He was in no hurry and he was hoping the longer he drew this out the more nervous Bobby would become. Con suspected that he would have a fight to get Bobby to confess, not that they needed a confession but it would be nice. Kind of the nail in the coffin.

"Well, you are being charged with breaking and entering, one count of assault and two counts of attempted murder, false imprisonment, and vandalism. But the legist of it, is that you are being held responsible with what Happened to Frank and Joe Hardy, as well as Phil Cohen."

Bobby had the good sense to look both surprised and confused, "I don't know what you're talking about Sir."

Con ignored him, and flipped through a report file, "You changed your clothes at your friend's house where the officers found you, didn't you?"

"Excuse me?" Bobby asked, confused and put off by Con's lack of response.

"You changed your clothes. Phil told officers that you were wearing all black. Black jeans, black t-shirt, black shoes. You seem to wear a lot of black Bobby."

"I don't understand. I was at Rick's house since I got off work tonight," Bobby defended.

Con nodded, "He said as much."

There was a knock on the door and Con got up to answer it before Bobby could respond. Standing on the other side was Larry, the CSI man that had been working on the case as well as Sharon, the ADA. "Well hello there, what can I do for you?" Con asked as he politely welcomed them into the room.

Sharon pulled a document from her brief case and made her way to Bobby, placing it in front of him.

"What's this?" asked the teen, his polite boy façade was starting to thin, and, as a result, his voice was slightly harsher.

"That, Mr. Rose, is a warrant for your person, car, and room. Mr. Walker here will be collecting the necessary samples from you," Sharon said in a no nonsense voice.

Bobby ignored her and took hold of the warrant to look over. His face had grown taunt and there was anger peeking through the good boy mask, but when he spoke his voice was just as sweet as ever. "I guess I have no choice. What do you need?"

Twenty minuets latter Larry and Sharon were leaving with DNA and hair samples from Bobby, as well as fingerprints. As they left, Con reclaimed his seat in front of Bobby. "So Bobby, where did we leave off? Ah yes, why'd you change your clothes?"

"Detective, I did not change my clothes. I have no idea what your are talking about."

"Can it Bobby. Don't lie to me, it won't do you any good nor will it change anything. Phil Cohen was able to identify you as his attacker. He was able to give a description. Several people saw someone matching your description running to your friend's house. You cleaned yourself up, changed clothes and convinced him to lie for you. But we got your black clothes and one we explained to your friend what you had done, he told us the truth. So Bobby, why'd you change clothes?"

Bobby glared at the detective, his hands forming fists, but when he spoke his voice was even and controlled, though empty. "If you know that Detective, then you already know why."

"I suppose I do," Con admitted, "And truth be told it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that you attacked Phil Cohen."

"He was breaking into the Hardy's house, I stopped him." Bobby answered, a sense of smugness returning.

Con shrugged, "Then why'd you run?" Con asked watching Bobby carefully. He had the feeling that he was playing a deadly game of chess with the young man and that only one of them was playing fair.

"I was acting on impulse and wasn't thinking clearly," came the smooth reply.

"And if you had been thinking clearly then you would have known Phil had a key and Mrs. Hardy's permission to be there. It' possible, but do you want to hear what I think Bobby?"

"Not really," Bobby hissed slightly, but Con ignored him.

"I think you were on your way out to your friend's house. You knew that your partners and girlfriend were in custody and your nervous. You don't think that we have anything on you though, so you won't run. Don't want to give yourself away. But then you see someone going to the Hardy home, and because you're nervous you over react. You follow them, and find Phil. He must have said or did something to piss you off. And you reacted accordingly. But you didn't expect Phil to put up a fight, didn't suspect that he's a black belt, same as Frank. And Phil made it to safety. The police we had sent to arrest you, they found him instead. Or it's something like that, right Bobby?"

"There's no evidence…."

"See, that's where you're wrong. There's always evidence after a fight. Trace gets everywhere, and Phil will make an excellent witness, don't you think? I mean, straight 4.0 student, no record, well known for his academic achievements and community service. DAs love those kinds of witnesses."

"Trace evidence can come from any source. I have been in the Hardy's house before. And you didn't find a knife on me."

"I never said anything about a knife," Con said simply, making a note.

Bobby just glared at him and went on, "Besides what reason would I have to attack Phil?"

"I think I covered that."

"Oh right, I attacked Frank and Joe. I guess it just slipped my mind."

"There's this thing called DNA, Bobby. It's unique to everyone. No two people have the same DNA coding. There's also this thing called witnesses, and we have oh, let's see, four."

"Four?" Bobby, hissed, suddenly going still, deadly still.

"Sam and Eric have agreed to testify against you. They both want no part of you anymore, and they're both very compelling. And both Joe and Frank are holding in there. Joe's already on his way to recovering, and Frank, well he's one tough kid. He's going to make it."

A cold and dark silence filled the room as a shadow fell across Bobby's face. Con gave the boy a few minuets to let his words sink home and to take a few notes for himself before he went on.

"See Bobby, we know what happened Saturday. We know when it happened, what was done, who did what, and how. We know just about everything that happened last Saturday. We just don't know why. Why Bobby? Why would you attack Frank and Joe Hardy? Why would you try to kill them?" Con asked, leaning in closer to the teenager.

"Why?" Bobby whispered, leaning closer to Con, his face distorting to almost demonic smile. "What if I told you there was no reason? No real explanation?"

"No Bobby, there's a reason. You have a reason. What did they do to make you so angry?"

"Not they, him. Frank. Mr. Perfect. Everyone adores him, everyone looks up to him, and everyone wants to be like him or wants their children to be like them. Like my father. Everything I did, was never good enough because Frank Hardy did it better. So I had to prove I was better then Frank. And I did. First I switched his medication, but that took to long, and nobody even noticed. So that's when I stepped it up and I got him. I broke him. I made him beg, 'No please don't hurt Joe, please leave him alone…' pathetic. I proved I was better."

Con had to take a deep breath and force himself to remain calm after listening to Bobby's rant. "So you wanted Frank, what about Joe and Phil?"

"They got in the way."

"That's it, they were just in the way?"

"What else were you expecting? I wanted to break Frank, I don't give a shit about the others."

Con just nodded and gathered his stuff. He didn't trust himself to say anything; to afraid he'd snap. He just gathered his stuff and headed for the door.

"What's the matter Detective?" Bobby called after him, "did I scare you?"

*** *** ***

Laura sighed as she sunk down in the seats in front of the isolation room window. It had been a very, very long night and she was feeling every inch of it. Fenton had phoned her and reported that Bobby Rose had confessed to attacking all three boys and was now being processed. He was on his way back to the hospital to be with his family.

Phil was in recovery in stable and responsive condition, and a very relieved Rachel was at his side. He was going to be fine, and would be discharged with in a few days. Callie had left for home, with a promise to return with friends tomorrow. Joe had drifted off to sleep and was resting comfortably. Already the doctors were talking about releasing him in about a week.

Frank was the only one still in danger. It had become apparent that he had an infection of some kind and it was now full blown. It was also clear that his body didn't have much strength left, but he wasn't in anyway down for the count. Right now, Laura could see him in the window talking to a nurse who was changing his bandages. He looked fevered and was visibly in pain, but there was still a smile on his face. It was reassuring.

"He's going to be ok, Laura," Came a soothing voice from behind the mother. Laura turned her head to find Casey there smiling down at her. "It's going to be a long recovery, but he's going to be ok."

Laura wanted to believe the words, but after all that had happened, there was too much doubt in her. "How do you know?" she asked, sounding like a small girl.

"His fever broke, that's why we have to change his bandages. His chest is clearer too. The antibiotics are working. We may even be able to move him back into a room with Joe by the end of the week. Both of those boys are strong and stubborn."

Laura just nodded, she was still stock on 'his fever broke,' the rest was just background nose. Her baby was going to be alright, he was going to pull through. Her prayers had been answered and her boys were going to live. That was the only thing she cared about.


	34. Epilogue

****

**Epilogue**

Sam and Eric both testified against Carry and Bobby. They plead guilty at their own trials. Sam was given ten years probation and Eric was sentenced to a year in prison with five years probation. Carry was found guilty on the charges of being an accomplice in the attacks and sentenced to ten years in prison. Bobby was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to twenty-five years. After the trials the Rose family left Elm Street and Bayport, they disowned Bobby.

It had taken many months for the Frank and Joe to recover, but they both made full recoveries. As did Phil. Frank was able to use his right hand as normal and Joe's jaw healed well. The Hardy's and their friends grew even closer. Frank, though he missed his graduation, was still honored as Bayport High's Valedictorian and both he and Phil were honored as the City's top High School Graduates.

Though life had settled for the brothers somewhat, there were still times when the memories of that hellish night caught up with them. Like the time Joe found Frank staring into the kitchen, frozen in place.

"Frank?" he called, trying hard not to use his Jaw too much. At this point frank had been home for about a week and a half, and while Joe had managed to overcome his fear of the kitchen, Frank was still struggling.

"It's so stupid. I know that nothing's going to happen, but I don't want to go in there," he told his brother, his head hung low.

"What do you want?" Joe asked simply, understanding the problem.

"Just some water."

Joe nodded and went to retrieve it. As he handed the glass to his brother he said, "Why don't we talk?"

Frank nodded, and gestured to the back yard. The brothers then spent the next three hours talking and it was that night that each brother began to find closer for each other and themselves. Though both knew that they could find a peace with in themselves, they also knew they would never forget that nightmare of a night on Elm Street.


End file.
